Edmonton residential parking ban resumes Saturday evening

The City of Edmonton said it will resume the parking ban on Saturday night to expedite its snow clearing operations and to end Phase 2 residential parking ban by Jan. 23.

The pause on parking ban will only last until 7:00 p.m., Saturday, instead of the whole weekend as originally planned.

In a press release late Friday night, the City said, “The residential parking ban was intended to be paused for the weekend, allowing crews to focus on other aspects of snow and ice control operations, such as school zones, windrow pick-up and alley maintenance.”

Crews will resume snow clearing operations on Saturday evening and will work round-the-clock through next week, the City said.

Neighbourhoods previously scheduled for clearing on Jan. 19, 20 and 21 will keep their schedule, to reduce disruption, while those that were not yet scheduled will see work beginning on Saturday and Sunday.

“While the City typically aims to notify neighbourhoods 24 hours in advance of service, areas being scheduled for January 17 and 18 will see compressed advanced notification,” the statement said.

Residents are asked not to park on their front street when their neighbourhood is scheduled.

“Parked vehicles remain the most significant obstacle for the City to deliver residential roadway service,” the statement said, adding that the City will deploy additional enforcement officers to address “low compliance rates.”

During these operations, windrows are expected along residential roadways. Sidewalks may experience additional run-off from the windrows as melting occurs.

Earlier on Friday, the City had said it has cleared 43 per cent of the residential roadway during the parking ban that began Jan. 12.

“Our crews continue to make steady progress on residential roadways. Edmonton received a once-in-30 year snow event in December, which concluded with rain and snow two weeks ago and was followed by unseasonably warm temperatures,” said Val Dacyk, general supervisor, Snow and Ice Control Program.

The City also cautioned residents about private skid steers offering their paid services without a valid permit to perform work on City roadways and infrastructure.

Damages resulting from privately contracted work could be held liable, the City noted.