The $278,000 Ravo 5 iSeries street sweeper has arrived in Sedro-Woolley.

Sand and debris have accumulated on Sedro-Woolley streets as the city’s old street sweeper has required constant maintenance.

Sand and debris have accumulated on Sedro-Woolley streets as the city’s old street sweeper has required constant maintenance.

The $278,000 Ravo 5 iSeries street sweeper has arrived in Sedro-Woolley.

Sand and debris have accumulated on Sedro-Woolley streets as the city’s old street sweeper has required constant maintenance.

Sand and debris have accumulated on Sedro-Woolley streets as the city’s old street sweeper has required constant maintenance.

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The city of Sedro-Woolley has a new machine to help keep its roads clean.

The $278,000 Ravo 5 iSeries street sweeper recently arrived and Public Works Operation Supervisor Nathan Salseina described it as state of the art and said he expects it to be on the streets as soon as possible and for years to come.

“It is definitely different than the one we have,” he said. “Our operator is going through the manuals right now, getting himself comfortable with the thing.

“We need to get logos on it, stickers, a license plate and all that stuff. Then it will be good to go ... we are definitely excited about getting it on the road.”

Its predecessor is best described as a big, clunky behemoth prone to breakdowns, such as the one it has been besieged by since February.

“We have had a lot issues with that sweeper,” Salsiena said. “It’s showing its age and it has become difficult to find parts for.”

He said the biggest difference between the two is that the old one was a fully mechanical sweeper, complete with two gutter brooms responsible for kicking the material to the center where the rear broom would then sweep the material up into the hopper.

“This is Sedro-Woolley’s first-ever vacuum sweeper,” he said.

While the older style worked well enough, the vacuums remove smaller particles that get into storm drains, Salseina said.

“They say this type of sweeper removes 99% of all materials from the road, which is really good for environmental purposes,” he said.

The old street sweeper was estimated to clear about 75% of debris.

“You have probably noticed the slug trail going down the road, especially after a snow-and-ice event,” Salseina said. “That was material it wasn’t able to collect.”

The new street sweeper has two gutter brooms and a massive vacuum to pull up the material swept underneath.

While the new one looks much smaller, its capacity for material remains much the same at about 6 1/2 yards.

It’s also much more comfortable from an operational standpoint with its hydrostratic transmission, meaning the operator need only worry about moving forward and backward without shifting gears.

“There’s a forward pedal and a reverse pedal,” Salseina said. “It has a top speed of about 30 mph.”

The city looked at five or six makes and models of street sweepers and researched different cities’ experiences before making a final decision.

“We checked with Bellingham and Mount Vernon,” Salseina said. “This was the one that really rose to the top. Mount Vernon has two like this.”

The old sweeper hasn’t swept up its last pine cone or pop can just yet. The plan is to keep it as a backup.

“There are some instances where a mechanical sweeper will do better, such as leaf season and after a snow and ice event,” Salseina said. “So in those instances, we might stick someone else in the other one so we can get the city cleaned up quicker.”

— Reporter Vince Richardson: 360-416-2181, vrichardson@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter:@goskagit, Facebook.com/VinceReports/

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