SALT LAKE — The city plans to begin a street-sweeping pilot project in Salt Lake next month that could lead to similar efforts in other neighborhoods.

The weekly street-sweeping project, set to begin Aug. 2, is meant to clear roadway debris and reduce polluted runoff that enters the storm drain system, which leads to the Salt Lake Waterway and eventually the ocean, city officials said.

The project will also mean street parking will be banned for several hours every week during the cleaning, which will focus on Likini Street (from Ala Napunani to Ala Liliko'i streets) and Ala 'Ilima, Ala Liliko'i, Ala Nanala, Ala Nanu streets. The streets are usually lined with vehicles belonging to residents in the neighborhood, which is filled with condominium and apartment buildings.

Parking will be restricted on one side of the streets at a time. The city will restrict street parking on one side on Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m., and restrict parking on the opposite side during the same hours on Fridays.

The project could last up to a year, a city official said.

Street sweeping is currently conducted in the area but the vehicles parked on the road prevent the mechanical sweeper equipment from clearing trash and other pollutants that collect along the curb, according to the city Department of Facility Maintenance.

"This program will allow us to do a much better job from the city's end to make sure we're doing our job to take away the litter and to make sure we have unobstructed storm drains," city Department of Parks and Recreation deputy director Dana Takahara-Dias said last night at the Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board meeting.

The project was requested by City Councilmember Romy Cachola and the Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board, officials said.

"The city is looking into possibly other areas, but they wanted to begin somewhere and this board had expressed some interest, and the city responded," said Takahara-Dias, Mayor Mufi Hannemann's representative to the board. "We'll see where it takes us, because it will involve a lot of coordination and cooperation. We will take a look at the results from this pilot project ... and then make a determination if in fact it is beneficial, which we think it is."

She said the city will distribute information about the pilot project to area residents.

The city said it's required to conduct mechanical street sweeping to comply with U.S. and state environmental regulations. The city has a street-sweeping program islandwide but is looking at ways to further reduce pollutants from entering storm drain systems, according to the city Department of Facility Maintenance.

Neighborhood board member Thomas Strout said the project will not only clean the streets and keep gutters clear but help move "derelict" vehicles — some with expired registration and safety checks — that are parked on the street.

"A lot of times these cars that sit there for a week or two or longer in one spot, all the rubbish starts building up by the tires," he said. "By doing this and keeping the gutter area clear, it will also prevent a lot of stuff washing down the storm drains and getting out into our oceans."

Strout, who parks on the street, said the parking restriction will be a minor inconvenience because it is limited to a few business hours a week. "It will take people a little while to get used to it, but they will," he said.

For more information about the Salt Lake street sweeping project, call 768-3600.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.