EDMONTON – With heavy snow accumulating on the roads, the City of Edmonton has declared the first seasonal parking ban of the season.
The ban on all residential bus routes will come into effect at 8:00 Sunday morning.
“With the continued snowfall forecasted for the region today and tomorrow, we need to be able to plow from curb to curb to remove snow and avoid the dangerous narrowing of traffic lanes,” said Bob Dunford, Director of Roadway Maintenance with the City of Edmonton.
Vehicles still parked in designated parking ban routes after 8:00 a.m. Sunday could be ticketed and towed, even after snowplows have made an initial pass through the neighbourhood.
The ban will remain in place until the plowing cycle is complete across the city.
“We certainly understand that the parking ban may cause a temporary inconvenience for some residents,” said Dunford. “But the removal of parked vehicles means that we are able to do the best job possible. We thank everyone for their cooperation.”
READ MORE: City encourages Edmontonians to embrace winter
By noon Saturday, the Edmonton Police Service had responded to 44 collisions in the city. 36 of those calls were for property damage collisions, two were injury collision and six were hit-and-runs.
By 4:00 p.m. those collision numbers rose to 118. Police responded to 93 property damage collisions, seven injury collisions and 18 hit-and-run collisions between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
By 10:00 p.m. Saturday, EPS members had responded to a total of 165 collisions. 126 of those were property damage collisions, nine were injury collisions and 30 were hit-and-runs.
The EPS is reminding motorists to give themselves plenty of time to get to their destinations, as city streets are slick.
The EPS has provided the following winter driving tips:
- If you can avoid travelling in poor conditions, please do so
- Slow down and brake gradually when approaching curves and while stopping
- Allow extra following and stopping distances in poor road conditions
- When turning left, give yourself more time to make the turn and further distances for oncoming traffic
- Bridge decks can become slippery, so use caution in those areas
The City says roadway maintenance crews hit the streets as soon as the snow began to accumulate. Crews will be focusing on bridges and hills, and will continue to work around the clock on arterial roads and collector routes until the roads are brought to good winter driving conditions, the City said.
“We’ve had our crews in since last night. We’ve brought in extra staff at 3:00 this morning and our forecast for tonight is to bring any additional contract equipment that we have on staff,” said Roland Aitchison, Superintendent of Operations, Roadway Maintenance, with the City.
Edmontonians can stay informed about the status of the parking ban by visiting the City of Edmonton’s website, watching the City’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and by signing up for email notifications.
Edmonton and much of central and southern Alberta was under a snowfall warning for much of the day Saturday. By Saturday evening, many of the warnings – including the snowfall warning for Edmonton – had been dropped.
To get your weather forecast on the go, download Global’s Skytracker Weather App.
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