With all the time you spend taking care of matters inside your place of business, it’s easy to forget the parking lot and roads outside. But you know who always notices? Customers and clients.
That’s why it’s important to keep up with your lot and street maintenance obligations. Today in the Northbay Maintenance Blog, we’re looking at why street sweeping services matters and what the benefits are of keeping up on it.
Benefits of Street Sweeping and Other Street Cleaning Services:
Collecting Metals & Other Contaminants
You probably wouldn’t have guessed that water contamination is the most important reason for regular street maintenance! But it is. As our society becomes more aware of the harm caused by contaminating our waterways, cities and towns are beefing up their municipal street cleaning services to prevent water contamination in all its forms.
Streets, especially busy streets, collect metals and other contaminants as a result of motor vehicle traffic. Some of these bits are large enough to see with the naked eye, but a lot of it is microscopic—yet still extremely hazardous to water quality.
When it rains, these contaminants are washed into the wastewater system, and eventually, find their way into nearby waterways and ultimately the Bay. From there they accumulate as toxins in fish and shellfish and disrupt aquatic ecosystems. They also pose threats to the safety of our drinking water.
Regular street maintenance sweeps up these contaminants before they can enter our waterways. This is an efficient, cost-effective method for reducing water pollution.
This is the most obvious purpose of performing street maintenance. Debris steadily accumulates on roads, and in our dry climate, it tends to remain on the roadway until something moves it.
What usually ends up happening is that the tires on our cars, trucks, and buses end up acting as brooms that catch the debris and throw it off the heavily used parts of the road surface onto the shoulders and gutters where wheels rarely pass. But this is not what tires are designed for, and debris on the road is a major cause of blowouts and other tire damage.
And the hazards don’t end there: Bicycles frequently operate on shoulders and gutters, so the accumulation of debris in those places makes it more dangerous to cycle, and reduces the lifespan of bicycle tires.
So now you know why municipal street maintenance crews focus on sweeping the sides of roads in particular: That’s where all the debris ends up!
Pedestrian Health & Safety
Debris in the streets creates multiple hazards for pedestrians, as well as pets.
For one thing, debris is a tripping hazard. Dirty, grungy surfaces are easier to trip on, and larger pieces of debris—such as chips of plastic or metal, and bits of gravel—are an especially significant tripping hazard. Without regular street cleaning services, more people fall and hurt themselves.
Road debris also poses a health threat. From dramatic, obvious biohazards such as used drug needles and pet (or human) excrement, to invisible threats such as the bacteria that causes tetanus, public health is one of the leading reasons for performing street maintenance regularly.
Attracting Animals
Street cleaning services extend to parking lots, too! Dirty parking lots often contain foods and scented products that attract wild animals and strays. That’s something you want to avoid if at all possible. Investing in parking lot cleaning not only makes your property nicer to look at, but it dissuades any animals who come roaming by from stopping in for a visit.
Legal Liability
Cities handle the public roads, but you’re on your own when it comes to your private roads and parking lots. If somebody trips, loses a tire, or otherwise hurt themselves or their car because you didn’t invest in proper street cleaning services, you or your company are looking at legal liability if they decide to sue.
In that respect, it helps to think of street maintenance as a simple insurance rider: Pay a few dollars a month to keep your streets clean, and you’ll significantly reduce your risk of facing these kinds of lawsuits.
Branding & Corporate Image
While we’re talking about private roads and parking lots, another key benefit of keeping up on your parking lot and street maintenance is that it creates a positive impression for your clients and customers.
Dirty parking lots, full of gravel and potholes and faded stripes, don’t look good. They look like the signs of a business that either doesn’t care or is having trouble paying the bills. Maintaining a high standard of parking lot and street cleaning services shows that you pay attention to the little details. It shows that you care about your property and can afford to take care of it.
Let Northbay Maintenance Handle It for You!
Here at Northbay Maintenance, we provide a full range of commercial street maintenance services, including:
- Regular sweeping
- Pothole repair
- Road surface pressure cleaning
- Parking Lot Striping
- Resurfacing
- Signage cleaning & replacement
With us, you have access to all of these services from just one contractor—the ultimate in convenience and efficiency. We handle all types of paved surfaces, including roads, parking lots, and parking garages.
We’ll come out for a free onsite evaluation, and we’ll give you a project bid on street maintenance services that fits your needs as well as your budget. So don’t wait! Give Northbay a call or contact us online today!
