By Tim Leeds
Les Bender said MDT (Montana Department of Transportation) crews will be out on the streets today starting the cleanup of dirt, sand and gravel accumulated over the winter.
The cleaning on First Street and Fifth Avenue will probably be going on for the rest of this week and into next week, Bender said.
"We're going to try to keep a crew out there 'till it's done," Bender, field maintenance supervisor for MDT in Havre, said.
Bender said they were starting on First Street and Eighth Avenue and would work their way through the business section to begin with. He said they will first use high-pressure water hoses to wash the accumulation down, using a loader to collect the biggest chunks, then start using sweepers to finish the job. Business owners could sweep the dirt off of their sidewalks onto the streets and then the crews could clean that up as well, he said.
"That would sure help," Bender said.
He said they will be also be washing the sidewalks down towards the end of the job.
Bender said they just finished doing some repairs on the cleaning equipment, which delayed the start of the job until today. Some problems were discovered with internal parts in the equipment during some pre-use maintenance, he said, and they had to get the parts and make the repairs before they could begin the work.
Bender said they were lucky to have discovered the problems when they did. If the repairs hadn't been made, he said, the equipment probably would have broken down on the streets while they were using it.
