PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The City of Philadelphia began street sweeping in 14 residential areas on Monday.
They brought in leaf blowers, mechanical brooms and compactor trucks to clean up the streets in some of the areas in the city with the most amount of litter, based on Philadelphia's annual litter index.
"Those areas were the areas where we saw the most litter," said Faruq Scott, the operations administrator for the streets department.
The streets will be cleaned weekly through November.
It's something residents like to see.
"I'm glad to see them out here doing it today," said Willi Pettigrew of Strawberry Mansion.
The Streets Department may add more neighborhoods to the cleaning program next year because of the amount of interest from residents.
Last year the city picked up between 500-600 tons of trash every week.
The 2023 Mechanical Cleaning Pilot Program launched on April 3 in the following areas:
- Frankford: Bridge St. to Adams Ave. from Griscom St. to Torresdale Ave.
- Germantown: Berkley St. to Chelten Ave. from Pulaski Ave. to Wakefield St.
- Kensington: 2nd St. to Kensington Ave. from Tioga St. to Lehigh Ave.
- Logan: Godfrey St. to Roosevelt Blvd. from Broad St. to 5th Sts.
- Nicetown: Broad St. to Clarissa St. from Hunting Park Ave. to Windrim Ave.
- North Central: Broad St. to 22nd St. from Glenwood Ave. to Diamond St.
- Paschall: 58th St. to 70th St. from Greenway Ave. to Dicks St.
- Point Breeze: Christian St. to McKean St. from Broad St. to 24th St.
- Port Richmond: Kensington Ave. to Aramingo Ave. from Tioga St. to Lehigh Ave.
- South Philly: McKean St. to Oregon Ave. from 4th St. to 8th St.
- Southwest: Woodland Ave. to Kingsessing Ave. from 49th St. to Cemetery Ave.
- Strawberry Mansion: Diamond St. to Lehigh Ave. from Sedgley St. to 33rd St.
- West Fairhill: 5th St. to 13th St. from Glenwood Ave. to Susquehanna Ave.
- West Philly: Parkside Ave. to Spring Garden St. from 52nd St. to 40th St.
No parking signs will be posted where street sweepers will be going through. Parking is restricted between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., on a staggered schedule.
Starting on May 1, drivers caught parked in those areas will be fined.