Street and Sidewalk Maintenance

Whether you're heading to work, school, or out for a stroll, we work to ensure that our streets and sidewalks are well-maintained and in safe condition. Through regular maintenance and repairs, we’re dedicated to providing you with the highest quality infrastructure to get you where you need to go.

Street Cleaning

Street cleaning helps keep our city streets clear of dirt and debris while protecting vital infrastructure. This process:

Reduces damage to pavement,
Minimizes dirt and debris entering storm sewers, and
Improves the quality of stormwater that undergoes treatment.

The City of St. John's plans to sweep each street outside the downtown area at least once a year. We also provide street cleaning service after oil spills, or when construction creates a build-up of debris.

Downtown Street Cleaning

In the spring and summer, the City cleans downtown streets overnight. There is a defined schedule. There are parking restrictions in place during this specific time.

Streets that don't have curbs or can't be safely accessed by the mechanical broom are excluded from this regular cleaning schedule. We do not enforce the Street Cleaning By-law if your street is under total reconstruction. This includes the removal and replacement of the asphalt surface and most of the curb, gutter and sidewalk.

Stay Informed

We update the street cleaning map daily. You can also:

Subscribe to emails on street cleaning
Look up your street cleaning schedule and make note of it in your calendar.
Check the daily street cleaning map.

How You Can Help

Move your car from the street at the scheduled times. We ticket vehicles left on the street during a scheduled cleaning. Please note, all sweeping takes place in the early morning on the dates specified, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Make a note of all the dates your street will be cleaned. If you are out of town on any of these dates arrange with a neighbour or friend to move your car for you.

We appreciate your cooperation and patience. Together, we can keep your neighbourhood clean.

Street Cleaning Look-Up

Downtown Street Cleaning Look-up

The look-up includes the dates for street cleaning from May to September.

The look-up lists streets in alphabetical order.

You will see a note that says odd, even or both. This refers to the side of street to be swept. Use the civic number of your house to figure out which side we are sweeping.

Note that we do not always sweep your street on the same day of the week.

Traffic Sign Maintenance

We install and maintain traffic signs along City roads.

Learn more about signs and signals

Pothole Repair and Asphalt Patching

As soon as the weather improves and our crews can turn their attention from snow clearing, pothole repair begins. Crews fill potholes, cut out and repair street sections and fix parking lots at City facilities.

A diagram featuring the four stages that rad goes through when a pothole is created

What Conditions are Required to Work on Potholes?

roads free of ice and snow
no water in gutters
not raining hard
not snowing
low traffic volume

Pavement Marking

Pavement markings include traffic lines, crosswalks, stop bars and arrows.

Line painting occurs between April and October. Our crews work in shifts to maximize efficiency and minimize inconvenience to the public.

Our Traffic Marking-Street Line Painting Policy sets up a priority for which markings are done first.

Gravel Roads/Shoulders

We maintain over 100 kilometres of gravel road. This is approximately 7% of the total road system in the City of St. John's.

Gravel or dirt roads need much more frequent maintenance than paved roads, especially after wet periods. Gravel roads and shoulders are susceptible to potholes, ruts, erosion and poor drainage. This is because traffic pushes material to the outside of the travel path and heavy rain can wash the material away easily.

Our crews maintain gravel roads and unpaved shoulders to provide a smooth and safe driving or pedestrian surface. This provides for positive drainage from the road surface to the roadside ditch network.

Ditches

Ditches are open channels that collect rainwater from road surfaces. They are mostly found in rural areas.

Ditches prevent flooding on traffic lanes and adjacent properties. Vegetated ditches help prevent erosion and silting of our rivers.

Annually, we inspect ditches and culverts – basically tunnels under roadways that lead to ditches or drains - to make sure water flow is not restricted. Sometimes, new ditches are required.

Sidewalk Maintenance

Our first priority is to replace sidewalks damaged due to water and sewer maintenance repairs. We schedule the remaining sidewalk list on a priority basis with hazardous situations completed first.

Report A Problem

Contact Access St. John's to request maintenance or report a problem. The 311 app lets users add pictures and pin a map to show the exact location of the issue.