The swept streets are a wonderful sign of spring, but there are many work steps before the bare pavement

At work in Riksu, there is a story series in which the employees of the city of Riihimäki talk about their work.

Removing street sand from the streets is a big expense every spring, but this year it is an even more laborious task than usual. Record amounts of sandblasting wreaths have had to be driven onto the streets of Riihimäki, about 5900 tons, while usually less than 3000 tons of wreaths are used in winter. For the sake of comparison, let us say that last year only 2600 tons of gravel were consumed.

"The sand removal job usually takes four to six weeks, but this year it could be tough to make sure that even six weeks are enough. A lot depends on the weather," says Sami Nikkinen, the foreman responsible for street maintenance.

Park workers also clean

As soon as the streets melt, people start feverishly waiting for the sand to be cleaned up. The sand rolling in the streets creates dust in the air and it can puncture a bicycle tire or sink unpleasantly into the bottom of a running shoe. However, the sweeping work can only be started when the weather is definitely on the plus side and there is no more snowmelt water in large quantities.

But as soon as the temperatures allow, Riihimäki's 16-person street maintenance team will hit the streets. There are also 16 different machines or vehicles in use, including trucks, brush machines and street washers.

If necessary, more help is purchased from external contractors. Employees of the park side, who sweep bus stops by hand and collect sand from green areas, also participate in the operation.

Only a fraction of all the sanding wreaths driven onto the streets during the winter can be collected back in the spring, approximately 20–30 percent. Most of the sand is transported to green areas and with the snow to snow dump sites. A heavy metal sample is taken from the recovered sandblasting wreath and most of the wreath is taken to snow dump sites or construction sites.

The sandblasting wreath can also be used in filling old landfills, traffic noise barriers or as a construction material for fitness trails. However, it requires that there are not too many impurities in the collected sandblasting.

Carefully pass the sweeping team

For street maintenance worker Eero Alho, warming spring mornings mean the start of well-rounded working days. Street sweeping starts at four in the morning and ends around four in the afternoon. Early morning hours are the best time to work.

"In the morning, you can work in peace and quiet, but you have to be careful during rush hour. People don't leave any safety gaps and make dangerous overtaking moves," says Alho.

The sweeping team is an unfortunate roadblock in traffic, because there are usually four large vehicles in a row. The first to go is a truck or tractor that waters the streets, followed by a brush machine that collects the largest sands from the street, and after that comes two more washing machines that wash fine dust from the street. The vehicles sometimes change places so that they move from the front to the back, and that's when it's especially dangerous if someone carelessly rushes past.

The most feedback about street sand comes in the spring, when people are impatiently waiting for it to be cleaned up. However, it is not possible to get to every place at the same time, but first the city center, large entrances and bus routes are cleaned. The order of cleaning residential areas varies every year

"People don't always know that you can't start work in freezing temperatures and that a single sweep won't be enough, but that cleaning involves several stages," says Nikkinen.

Alho also hopes for people's patience, but points out that compared to the feedback from plowing, the sanding irritation is still minor.

Emmi Tuomisto