After a pause in non-essential operations due to extreme weather conditions, clearing in Phase 2 residential areas in Edmonton resumes on Monday morning.
A Phase 2 parking ban will come into effect at that time. Crews will operate seven days a week in residential areas between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
During this phase of the parking ban, residents are asked to move their vehicles from residential roads. The road clearing work next week will also include the removal of windrows that are blocking driveways.
Edmontonians can continue to park in their driveway or garage, in parking available on a neighbours property (with permission), in a snow and ice alternative parking option, and on any road cleared during Phase 1 where parking is allowed normally.
Many EPark zones also offer free parking overnight, between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 a.m.
Parking is available on roads as soon as they have been cleared, if parking is allowed there normally.
Residents can check the City of Edmonton’s interactive online map to confirm where crews are operating and which streets have been cleared. People are also encouraged to watch for signage in their neighbourhood.
In addition to resuming the Phase 2 parking ban, crews will also be picking up windrows that are in the middle of roads and on medians outside of residential areas.
The city says windrows along the curb lanes in residential areas won’t be removed, except for those blocking driveways.
“We need to place the snow somewhere in order to make sure that road width is maintained and that’s where the snow needs to go,” Andrew Grant, general supervisor of infrastructure field operations, parks and roads services, said.
“Boulevards are ultimately designed for snow storage, so we do push it up there as far as we can get it, but in years where we see substantial snowfall it does encroach onto the road at times.”
The city says if windrows are blocking sidewalks or have caused a safety concern, people should call 311 to report it.
The city said throughout the season crews monitor conditions, respond to safety-sensitive issues and trouble spots as needed, in addition to regular snow clearing.
When the city sees fluctuating temperatures, crews adjust the road materials that are best for the weather, such as adding rock chips to the sand mix when roads are extra icy, as has been the case in recent weeks.
The Phase 2 residential clearing began a few days before Christmas, at which time the city said the process would take about a month to complete.
At the end of December, crews paused non-essential snow clearing operations due to extreme temperatures that stretched into the first week of January.
This is the first season the city has put into practice a new two-phase parking ban, which was announced last year but never declared due to a lack of snow.
This year during snow clearing, Edmonton streets will be tackled on a priority basis. Priority 1 roads include arterial roads and business improvement areas. These are cleared within 36 hours of the end of snowfall, according to the city.
Priority 2 includes collector roads and bus routes, and are cleared within 48 hours.
Priority 3 includes industrial roads, which are cleared to bare pavement standard within five days, and rural roads, which are maintained to a level snowpack within five days following the end of snowfall.
Priority 4 is residential roads and alleys, which are cleared once a five-centimetre snowpack has formed. These roads are not cleared to bare pavement.
Vehicle owners are encouraged to have a plan for where they are going to park when a ban comes into effect.
People can sign up on the City of Edmonton’s website to receive an email alert when a parking ban is declared.
— With files from Caley Ramsay and Nicole Stillger, Global News