Four Season Sweeper & More
SPECIAL TO ELGIN SWEEPER, SUBSIDERY OF FEDERAL SIGNAL CORPORATION
PHOTOJOURNALISM BY GINI AND DAN MCKAIN
JUNE 2005
Only hours before the start of the mournful slow- moving funeral procession at Arlington National Cemetery an Elgin Eagle sweeper in its waterless configuration passed through the surrounding streets making certain that they would be spotless. Almost as if to pay final homage to the fallen hero, the sweeper operators put forth that little extra effort for the ceremony.
The cleanliness of the streets leading into the world famous cemetery has a top priority for the National Park Service. It is with a matter of utmost privilege and pride that Tony King's crew of men and women carry out their responsibility to maintain this hallowed ground as presentable as possible. Presidents, Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers and other heads of state often attend funerals or visit the graves of those interred here.
In an effort to preserve a safe and positive environmental condition on the 35-mile long George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Road and Trails Division of the National Park Service of the United States is evaluating the new waterless roadway sweeping technology. This, according to Deputy Parkway Superintendent Jon G. James, is being evaluated for use on a year-round basis. The GWMP Division is evidently satisfied with using the new Elgin Eagle Series F Sweeper with the waterless option. It was acquired through the standard GSA purchasing schedule after initially evaluating several competitive models.
Equally as important to the National Park Service's crew is that the funerals of those men and women of all branches of the Service and Government, whatever their rank or rate, be treated with the greatest respect. This starts with maintaining access to the honored site at all times; winter snows and ice as well as summer sun and rains. The new Elgin Eagle sweeper, equipped with the waterless option, is a prime tool in accomplishing this mission.
It is also imperative that Tony King schedules his crew, equipped with the Elgin sweeper, to make their rounds at the nearby U. S. Marine Corps's Iwo Jima Memorial as early in the day as possible. Individual dignitaries, guests, visitors and busses filled with tourists to the world famous statue often begin arriving shortly after daylight. The efficient cleaning and sweeping of the streets at this site is also quite essential.
"We serve the public and part of that responsibility requires that we maintain the areas with heavy visitation clean for whoever may come to them. It is a little known fact that this memorial site plays host each year to a number of weddings and also is the location of many Marine Corps events annually," continued the Park Service supervisor.
Another area maintained by the crew with the Elgin sweeper, according to Tony King, is George Washington's homestead at Mount Vernon. While this is a popular site for visitation all year long, especially for groups of school children on class outings, the visitor count is especially heavy during Easter vacation time and during Washington's Birthday commemorations.
Yet King knows spring cleaning! In fact Tony King is also very familiar with cleaning in summer, fall and winter. He literally is a man for all street cleaning seasons. He is the Engineering Equipment Operator Supervisor for the National Park Service's Roads and Trails Division's George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) in Northern Virginia.
One interesting aspect of highway sweeping on the GWMP is time. For Tony King and the few men in his division selected to operate the new Elgin waterless sweeper, timing is everything, especially during the tourist season. The roads to and around the monuments and historic monument sites on the routes must be swept clean early so as not to inconvenience the crowds of daily visitors.
Then there are those early morning and late afternoon traffic congestions. These are created by the hundreds of thousands of commuters driving into and out of the nation's capital on a twice daily, every workday, occurrence.
The George Washington Memorial Parkway is considered a weekday commuter route by (83,000 ADT) local residents. It also offers the casual weekend traveler much more than a convenience. It is a route to scenic, historic and recreational settings offering respite from the urban pressures of metropolitan Washington. In addition, it protects the Potomac River shoreline and watershed. The parkway provides a pleasant day's trip from Mount Vernon to Great Falls, passing through the same lands George Washington frequently traveled on horseback.
The GWMP consists of two main sections. The first is the 25-mile Virginia section that runs from Mount Vernon northward along the Potomac River to Interstate 495. The second section is in Maryland, where the Clara Barton Parkway follows the Potomac River for seven miles from Chain Bridge in Washington to north of I-495.
The waterless technique being tried is especially valuable when maintaining a clean protected roadway and meeting the demand for the quick pick-up of thousands of tons of winter-time sand and chemicals that are spread to insure the safety of parkway users. Employment of the more traditional method of using water to assist in the conventional road cleaning operation could only increase the presence of the hazardous "Black Ice" when a storm abates, yet the ambient temperature remains below the freezing mark," commented Engineering Equipment Operator Supervisor.
Long sections of the Parkway parallel the Potomac River. Stormwater drainage eventually finds its way into the waterway. Anything that can be done to reduce pollution has a significant environmental benefit. This includes reducing water used in roadway sweeping runoff.
The year-round pick-up of storm related debris is also a noteworthy situation that must be addressed. A sudden spring, summer or fall storm can knock down tree limbs and untold hundreds of thousands of leaves from the deciduous trees lining the Parkway. These leaves, when wet, have a tendency to turn a highway surface into the consistency of a gigantic ice skating rink, sometimes with disastrous results.
Typical of the winter storm situation was a tempest that moved up from the southwest, dumping several inches of dense wet snow on the road. There was ample warning of its approach, giving the Parkway's maintenance crew's ample time to mobilize and activate their salt and chemical spreading vehicles. The storm was a midweek event, which meant that the same crews had to clean and sweep the highway as quickly as possible afterward. Many of the thousands of daily automobiles utilizing the road during the week are driven by motorists commuting to and from jobs in the National Capital Area.
"Our new Elgin sweeper in its waterless configuration is a big help to our year-round operation. This is especially true, however, during the winter months when we are salting and sanding to help keep the Parkway safe for motorists. Prior to getting this machine we couldn't use our older sweeper because we couldn't put water in it. Now, with the Eagle Series F sweeper, we can pick up all the roadside debris; salt, sand, tree branches and leaves with no problem all year long without the need for water," concluded Mr. Tony King.
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Mr. Tony King
George Washington Memorial Parkway
National Park Service
Engineering Equipment Operator Supervisor
Roads and Trails Division
National Park Service
George Washington Memorial Parkway Headquarters
Turkey Run Park
McLean, VA 22101
Phone: Headquarters 703-289-2500
Email: GWMP_Superintendent@nps.gov
Elgin Sweeper Company, a division of Federal Signal Corporation is North America's largest and premier manufacturer of Street and Industrial sweeping equipment. Elgin Sweeper is a part of the Federal Signal Environmental Products Group (FSEPG). FSEPG is comprised of six operating units, that provides a complete line of cleaning solutions to both private and government customers.
SIDEBAR TO: FOUR SEASONS SWEEPER
The Elgin Eagle is a truck mounted 4-wheel, twin engine, mechanical broom sweeper with over the road transport speeds up to 65 mph. It comes mounted on a Sterling Cargo cabover chassis and features a 200 hp main engine and a five speed overdrive automatic transmission. The Eagle offers a John Deere 99 hp engine for units in the wet/dry dust control mode.
The oil tempered steel wire side brooms are 42" diameter providing a large "scrub area". They have the ability to readily move dust and debris into the main broom path. Extending the side brooms with hydraulic pressure assures full curb contact pressure regardless of the curb contour.
The main broom is five foot long, thirty-five inches in diameter and made from a heavy-duty wear-resistant polyethylene material. The main broom utilizes an air float system that permits precise control of down pressure while closely following road surface contours.