ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul announced on Sunday that parking will soon be banned on the side of residential streets with even-numbered addresses until April 1.
The parking ban begins on Monday at noon.
Similar winter parking rules were announced recently by the City of Minneapolis. The city says the ban eliminates about a third of all available on-street parking.
St. Paul officials announced the changes during a news conference at the city's fire department headquarters on Randolph Street.
"We are declaring today, a one-sided street parking ban, effective tomorrow, Monday, March 4th at 12 o'clock," St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said.
It would be a lie to say that navigating many of St. Paul's residential streets during record snowfall is easy. With cars parked on both sides of the street, snowy residential roads are essentially only wide enough for one car to pass through, even though it is not a one-way.
When cars pass each other, they either have to make room and let one pass before the other, or have to make it a close call each time.
Now imagine driving through those same exact roads with a fire engine, a school bus, a garbage truck or an ambulance.
By moving all the cars to the odd side of the street, there will be a little bit more room. St. Paul officials say they know it is going to be a pain.
"We have chosen public safety over inconvenience," St. Paul Public Works Director Kathy Lantry said. "People will have to walk farther and that's one of the reasons we didn't want to do this."
However, now they say they've simply run out of room to push the snow. For folks who won't be able to park in front of their homes until April, the city asked for a showing of generosity.
"Parking on one side of the street is a simple thing we can all do, to make sure that an ambulance or a firetruck can get to all of our homes, to our neighborhoods," Carter said.
Parking on the even side of residential streets during the ban could result in being ticketed or towed.
The rules will remain in place until April 1, but it could end earlier if conditions improve.
If you have a designated handicap space in front of your home that's on the even side of the street, you may need to contact St. Paul Public Works to have officials put up a temporary sign across the street.
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