Edmonton issues parking ban to give plows clear path

All vehicles must be off residential bus routes by 7 a.m. Friday

EDMONTON - A seasonal parking ban was issued Thursday after Edmonton’s first wallop of wintry weather brought heavy snow, high winds and frigid temperatures.

The parking ban affects vehicles parked along residential bus routes and is effective immediately, until further notice, the city says.

Motorists would normally have eight hours to move their vehicles once a parking ban is declared, but because this was the first ban of the season, the city is giving residents a grace period.

Vehicles parked on streets with signs noting a seasonal parking ban must be moved by 7 a.m. Friday or risk being ticketed or towed.

“We’re hoping people will comply and understand that it will help us get the job done faster,” said Bob Dunford, the city’s director of road maintenance.

Tickets are $50. Towed vehicles are taken to the city’s impound lot at 12230 124th Avenue. Restricted parking tows will cost drivers at least $116, plus $28 for each day cars are impounded.

Dunford said 106 pieces of city equipment were sanding and plowing streets Thursday. Graders were to hit the streets at midnight, Dunford said. Once arterial and collector roads are cleared, residential streets will be bladed to a five-centimetre snow pack, rather than down to the asphalt. Residents can look on the city’s transportation website to see when their neighbourhood will be plowed.

In the Edmonton area, blowing snow reduced visibility to one kilometre, with 40 kilometre-per-hour winds gusting up to 60 km/h.

The Alberta Motor Association was reporting poor road and highway conditions in the Edmonton area, including Highway 2 from Edmonton south to Leduc, and the Sherwood Park Freeway.

“It’s starting to slick up a bit. The snow has a heavy moisture content; it’s not a dry snow out there,” said AMA spokesman Don Szarko.

“Everything is conspiring to make the roads treacherous.”

In the city, poor road conditions contributed to 43 collisions before rush-hour Thursday, including four that caused minor injuries.

While no one was seriously hurt, acting inspector Gary Godziuk said a dog died after the car it was riding in hit a pole on Anthony Henday Drive, near Terwillgar Drive. Godziuk also noted that a 12-year-old boy was clipped by a car that failed to stop for him at a west-end crosswalk. Godziuk asked that both drivers and pedestrians exercise caution while on the streets during this first snowstorm.

The cold weather has prompted a warning from Edmonton Catholic Schools, which issued a reminder to parents to dress children in “warm hats, gloves and boots” and to return home or to a pre-selected location if a bus is 20 minutes late.

Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Wray said once the band of snow passes through the region, a blast of Arctic air will move in, dropping temperatures to an overnight low of -21 C. A high of -15 is forecast for Friday, and the mercury is expected to dip even lower over the weekend, with forecast highs of -20 C, Wray said.

“It’ll be sunny and cold for the weekend.”

Updated information on the weather warning can be found on theEnvironment Canada website.

Source: Edmonton Journal