Edmonton declares citywide parking ban

The City of Edmonton has declared a citywide residential parking ban starting Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m. The ban is expected to last up to four weeks.

“Edmonton is experiencing unseasonably warm weather, which has caused challenging conditions in residential areas,” said Val Dacyk, General Supervisor, Infrastructure Field Operations.

“The City maintains residential roads to a five-centimeter snowpack, so we held off on entering residential roads where our heavy equipment would cause even deeper ruts in soft snow. We anticipate temperatures to drop next week.”

Vehicles parked on parking ban routes may be ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense. If your vehicle is towed, it will be moved to the nearest cleared roadway and can be located by contacting 311.

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Neighborhoods will be under the ban for 24-72 hours as crews move through the city. The entirety of Phase 2 is expected to last up to four weeks depending on the weather.

Crews and equipment will be working 24 hours a day until Phase 2 roads are clear. There will be signs posted in neighborhoods regarding snow clearing.

The warm weather is set to end later this week with Environment Canada predicting a polar vortex to sink temperatures into the minus 20s by this weekend.

The city of Edmonton says it will be sending in smaller equipment to clear out residential streets Tuesday.

Roads in Edmonton neighborhoods are wreaking havoc for drivers and those with mobility issues as slush and snow pile up. The city said they received over 1,500 complaints on 311 about snow in January.

Monday afternoon, Edmonton’s Mayor Amarjeet Sohi told media he knows that snow removal hasn’t been living up to Edmontonian’s expectations. Saying the city needs to rethink its strategy around snow removal with winter warming trends. Something mayor Sohi says the council will be putting towards city administration.

The lack of cleaning on residential streets has nothing to do with the budget. We have the money, we have the resources, we have the equipment, and the personnel to be out there. It’s just figuring out how to redeploy those resources in a better way,” said Mayor Sohi.

Motorists are advised to drive to conditions and maintain a safe following distance between vehicles. Give snow and ice-clearing crews room to work as they work to get the roads cleared as quickly as possible.