Where to go, all the snow? Even Minn. struggles

Snow isn't usually a big deal in Minnesota.

It's a state where most people consider it a point of civic pride to quickly clear their sidewalks, and where news of a blizzard shutting down the East Coast is more likely to produce superior smirks than sympathy.

But this year's persistent winter is beginning to get on nerves around here, where the absence of a usual midwinter thaw has meant more than 3 feet of accumulated snow. That's got drivers pinched by ever-narrowing streets, pedestrians scrambling over snowbanks and cities turning to seldom-used ways to get rid of the buildup.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Minneapolis has banned parking on one side of streets until winter ends. Eagan is looking at stockpiling snow at an outdoor water park. Some cities are trucking out snow from their downtowns, and at least one suburban mall and the Twin Cities airport get rid of snow quickly - by melting it.

The Minneapolis parking ban took effect Thursday and is expected to affect an estimated 80,000 vehicles.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," said Alison Brasch, 24, sitting in her Jeep Grand Cherokee before leaving for work. Her apartment is in the crowded Uptown area of south Minneapolis on a street side where parking is banned until April 1, unless there's a big warm-up.

"Parking is ridiculous in Uptown to begin with. So having to park two blocks down when it's 3 degrees is not what I want to do in the morning or after work, when it's the peak of craziness around here," Brasch said.

Except for some snow removal downtown, Minneapolis pushes snow to the sides of streets. It's cheaper and quicker, explained Mike Kennedy of the city's public works department.

"Just plow to the side and let 'em melt," Kennedy said.

But this season, a Christmas snowstorm that turned to rain was followed by a deep freeze that bonded ice and snowpack to the pavement. A winter storm this week dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the Twin Cities, leaving 16 to 18 inches of snow still on the ground. So Minneapolis imposed its first one-sided parking ban since February 2001.

The ban affects mainly residential streets. Kennedy said officials were concerned about firetrucks and ambulances maneuvering through snow-choked streets. Any cars parked on the wrong side can be ticketed and towed.

"Hate it already," said Joe Patrow, 39, before leaving for work. Patrow lives on the banned even side of an Uptown street and said he's "going to scramble to try to find a spot on the odd side."

In the southern suburbs, Eagan has bought in specialized equipment to blow snow over towering snowbanks and has a contingency plan to pile snow in the parking stalls at Cascade Bay outdoor water park, city spokesman Tom Garrison said.

Chanhassen, southwest of Minneapolis, has trucked snow out of its downtown and is trying to keep residents' driveways clear and the snow from building up around fire hydrants, Public Works Director and City Engineer Paul Oehme said.

"We've had to send out trucks more than we'd like to, but we're managing now," Oehme said. He said Thursday's bright sun was helping melt snow off roads.

At Twin Cities airport and Rosedale Center in Roseville, workers get rid of snow quickly by melting it.

Rosedale, with nearly 5,700 parking spaces, contracts for two melters the size of semitrailers, said Bob Hrkal, the mall's senior operations manager. Using super-heated water, one machine melts 60 tons of snow an hour, the other melts 80 tons an hour, he said. The melted snow is put down the drain at 39 degrees.

Melting costs about a third of hauling snow, Hrkal said. "We don't lose parking spaces, especially before the holiday. Every space is a premium," he said.

The Twin Cities airport, which covers 3,400 acres, has about 40 snow-melters for its grounds plus melters for its parking ramps, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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