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With nearly a winter’s worth of snow already on the ground in mid-January, St. Paul’s Public Works department is sounding the snow alarm: either the streets need to be cleaned up, or single-sided parking bans are on the table. 

So, the agency is announcing an unprecedented plowing program, Tuesday through Friday.  

“Our crews have been working since before the last snow started and they focused first on the main streets, and they have been working ever since the snow stopped on the residential streets,” says Sean Kershaw, the city’s public works director. “But given the volume of snow and that snow melts more slowly in residential streets, what we want to do is get back into every residential street and clean up as much of it as we can.” 

The city has made requests in the past for people on residential streets to move their cars after snow emergencies have expired. But the St. Paul is getting a little more aggressive this time, saying tickets and tows are part of this effort as well – although the city plans to focus on abandoned and lingering snowbirds. 

“We will be using the existing no parking rules, not the snow emergency parking rules,” Kershaw said in an interview with MPR News. “The existing law right now is if a car has been parked for more than 48 hours in the same spot in the street, that it's possible for us to ticket and tow. What we're really going to be doing is not penalizing people who forgot that day to move their car, we're really going to be focused on cars that are abandoned or haven't been moved since the last snow emergency.” 

Kershaw says plow crews will be working on both widening the space between the snowbanks built up on residential streets, and trying to clear the glaciers rutted onto the traffic lane in the middle of many neighborhood streets. 

The odd-even is a new tactic for St. Paul, which usually uses night and day plow routes to clear streets in 48 hours during snow emergencies. 

“Part of the reason that we are addressing it is to address safety concerns,” Kershaw said, citing access requirements for fire equipment. “What we want to do is … make the streets as wide as possible... obviously for fire and safety vehicles, or for you know, people who want to park and drive through the streets just because we live here.” 

A full explanation of the parking restrictions is at 

. You can also sign up there for a daily text reminder that will tell you where NOT to park each day this week. 

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Vehicles may be tagged and towed if they are parked on streets designated for plowing.

Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2021

Tim Nelson | MPR News

A ruler shows the depth of snow on a street.

It’s no snow emergency, but St. Paul wants your vehicle off the street this week

Go Deeper.

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