Street Sweeping

In partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation, we regularly sweep over 90% of Seattle’s arterial streets. City crews sweep 32 night routes and seven day routes throughout the year. We add three routes during leaf season.

When are crews sweeping my street?

1. Open the Street Sweeping Route Map to learn when sweeping crews are in your area
2. Enter your address on the map home screen
3. Click on highlighted streets near your address to view sweeping route information
4. Write down the route numbers and next scheduled sweeping dates
5. If you can, move your vehicle to an alternate street before the next scheduled sweep

City of Seattle Street Sweeping Route Map Application

Note: Scheduled sweeping days and locations may vary due to labor and equipment resources, emergency clean up needs, and weather conditions.

Benefits of Street Sweeping

Support Clean Waterways: Pollutants build up on streets and wash into local waterways when it rains. Sweeping removes some of this debris before it is washed down the drain. Each year, we prevent about 320,000 pounds of pollutants from potentially entering our local waterways. Learn more about how SPU works to improve stormwater quality.

Keep neighborhoods healthy and clean: Sweeping removes trash and city dirt for a more appealing place to live, work, and visit. Seattle sweeps over 26,000 miles every year to keep streets clean.

Keep Seattle traffic moving and safe: Sweeping improves car and bike lane safety and reduces flooding by clearing stormwater drains.

Street sweeping debris

Additional Information

Seattle doesn't use parking enforcement for street sweeping

Moving your car is voluntary. Here is why:

• Enforcing parking rules is expensive.
• Many arterials already have few parked cars overnight, so sweepers have access to the curb without parking enforcement.
• Asking is better than telling! We prefer car owners voluntarily move their cars.
• It isn't equitable: Affluent neighborhoods tend to have more off-street parking, and parking enforcement fines have a greater impact on low-income communities.

Scientific data and reports

The City of Seattle has conducted studies and produced reports on the benefits of sweeping streets to improve the quality of stormwater runoff. If available, you can download a copy of one of these reports. Otherwise, you may also contact us at the email address: SPUStreetSweep@seattle.gov.

Additional street service questions and requests

Please visit the SDOT Street Maintenance website for more information.