Chicago to Implement Technology-Coordinated Street Sweeping and Parking Program

The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation is piloting an innovative coordinated street cleaning and parking program. Chicago's First Ward "gets a lot of commuter traffic," said an announcement on the Streets and Sanitation Web site, "especially from the suburbs or the outskirts of the city. They park their cars in the neighborhood and then take Rapid Transit Downtown." That means that street sweeping schedules aren't known to the commuters, so they get ticketed and impede cleaning.

To mitigate the problem, Chicago will be testing a new technology-based program that features solar-powered lights atop street sweeping signs. The lights flash red on street sweeping day to inform residents to move their vehicles. Then, as the sweeper passes, a transmitter triggers the indicator to flash green and open the spaces to parking once again. No tickets will be issued said the city, when the lights are off or flashing green.

"We believe that this technology is the first of its kind and that Chicago is the only city in the nation to have implemented such new, state of the art technology," said the announcement.