Keeping Our Roadways Clean

September 2024. September is “National CleanUpMonth” and one of the things that makes the City of Thousand Oaks such a beautiful place to live and work is its cleanliness, including its streets and freeway ramps. Inevitably, litter and debris find their way in various places, but the City makes a concerted effort to clean up litter and maintain its streets and on/off ramps through regularly scheduled maintenance by its partners. This results in cleaner roadways, improved stormwater quality, and increased waste diversion.

Street Sweeping

Who provides street sweeping service?

Athens Services provides street sweeping service in the City through its solid waste franchise agreement. Through this arrangement, residential and commercial streets are swept monthly, removing approximately 110 tons per month of debris and contaminants that would otherwise remain in the street and eventually end up in the City storm drain system, polluting our creeks and ocean and potentially causing flooding.

When does street sweeping occur?

Street sweeping on residential streets occurs twice monthly from October through April and once per month from May through September. Commercially zoned streets are swept weekly throughout the year. Sweeping is conducted between the hours of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm and generally occurs the day following scheduled trash pick-up. Like trash collection, sweeping service is delayed one day on holiday weeks. Please refer to the street sweeping schedule for a complete list of City streets and 2024 sweeping dates. To report a street sweeping concern, contact Athens Services at (805) 852-5264, or you may submit your concern through the City’s online service request system.

How can you help?

For best street sweeping results please keep the road in front of your house free of large objects and obstructions like parked vehicles, trailers, trash carts, basketball hoops, and low-hanging tree branches. Please do not rake, blow or pile up leaves and dirt from your property into the street. Street sweeping is intended to clean what naturally is present on the street. The sweeper may not pick up piled-up material and debris will be left for you to remove. Place leaves from your trees in your yard waste container.

Helpful tips

1. Remove any vehicle parked on the street - Any vehicle (car, truck, boat trailer or recreational vehicle) parked on the street prevents the sweeper from reaching the curb lane where debris accumulates.
2. Keep large debris out of the road - Large sticks, branches and pine needles will clog and jam the sweepers.
3. No trash cans in the street– The City’s municipal code does not allow garbage, recycling, and yard waste containers to be placed against the curb for collection except between 4:00 p.m. the day before pickup and 8:00 a.m. the day after collection. Like parked vehicles, the garbage and recycling containers prevent the sweeper from reaching the curb.

Freeway Ramp Cleaning

Thousands of vehicles travel the 101 and 23 Freeways daily and litter/debris from these travel corridors often end up on City streets and storm drains. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for removing litter from the 101 and 23 highway corridors - including shoulders and medians – and the on and off ramps (in all directions). This is done through their Adopt-A-Highway litter removal program in which entities, usually businesses or other organizations, act as sponsors.

How does the ramp cleaning program work?

The City participates as a sponsor, contracting with a Caltrans authorized vendor, Adopt-a-Highway Litter Removal Service of America (AAHLRSA), for litter removal from fourteen freeway on/off ramps within the City and the 101/23 freeway interchange area. Litter removal occurs once per month from the on/off ramps and twice monthly from the 101/23 interchange area. The contract is for litter removal only; AAHLRSA does not maintain landscaping or do weed abatement. 

The table below indicates the amount of trash removed from the on/off ramps and interchange over the last four years. 

Periodically, Caltrans construction projects along the 101 and 23 freeways require Caltrans to designate the area as a “construction zone”. Under this construction zone status, AAHLRSA is not permitted to clean the ramp and interchange areas it normally maintains. During these periods, Caltrans is responsible for removing litter in all designated construction zone areas. Recently, the construction zone status was lifted for the 23 freeway and regular cleaning has resumed. Regular ramp cleaning on the 101 freeway and the 101/23 interchange area is ongoing.

How do I submit a complaint about litter?

To report a concern about litter along the highway shoulders and median, contact Caltrans at (213) 897-4273. To report a concern about litter along on/off ramps in Thousand Oaks or the 101/23 interchange area, contact the City Public Works Sustainability Division at (805) 449-7283, or submit a comment on the City’s online service request system.