Seattle to buy mini street sweeper for bike lanes

Some protected bike lanes are too small for traditional street sweepers to access so, according to the Seattle Bike Blog, the city is planning to purchase a mini street sweeper.

Portland apparently made the move to sweep up its bike lanes first with such a purchase, and the Seattle Department of Transportation tells the Seattle Bike Blog that Seattle is taking similar action to clean up its bike lanes.

“As protected bike lanes are a new type of facility for the city, SDOT is establishing a maintenance program specifically for them. We don’t have a sweeper suited for their narrow space and surface type, so we are currently evaluating several regenerative air sweepers to address this need.

“Our goal is to complete the equipment purchase by the end of the first quarter of 2014. Until then, we will use our maintenance laborers to keep the cycle tracks clear,” SDOT’s Rick Sheridan tells The Seattle Bike Blog.

This is just the latest news of improvements the city is making for cyclists. Seattle’s goal is to put all residents within a quarter mile of a bike lane.

According to the city’s website, over the last four years, SDOT has invested around $36 million in bicycle improvements guided by The Bicycle Master Plan.