Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert's recent Facebook posts on the city's new snow emergency plan:
Hey Duluth! Snow emergency 101 class today is “so how will this thing work?” Well, here is the good news for those of you who use on-street parking… you will no longer need to move your vehicle to an amnesty lot during a snow emergency and then try and figure out how to get home. And then how to get back to your vehicle.
The new snow emergency response now aligns with the requirements for alternate side parking. Which is why we started yesterday with a reminder that we HAVE alternative side parking, and that 4pm – 8pm on Sundays is the ONLY time parking is allowed on both sides of a street.
Here is how the new SOE will work:
Step 1. Park where should (according to alternative side parking) while plows clear the opposite side of the street.
Step 2. Move your vehicle to the plowed side of the street between 4 and 8 pm on the day of snow emergency.
Step 3. Come back home. When the snow emergency ends move your vehicle back to the scheduled side of the street (according to alternate side parking).
Yep, it’s actually that easy. And streets will be plowed curb to curb within a few days instead of waiting sometimes as long as a week until the next scheduled alternate side parking flip. Again, this works because we partner with our plow drivers by moving our cars.
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Hey Duluth! Snow Emergency 101 class today is all about what a snow emergency is - and is not.
The City of Duluth uses snow emergencies to ensure the streets and avenues throughout the city can be safely navigated by Emergency Service and Public Safety vehicles, along with the public. It’s also about engaging us as residents to be partners with our plow drivers.
When we help out by moving our vehicles to where they should be, WHEN they should be, we are better able to clear the roads and ensure drivers have safe conditions to get to their destinations.
As we saw last March snowstorms can come in waves, one right after the other.
After we clear Priority 1 streets AKA P1 or Snow Emergency Routes we transition to Priority 2 or P2 streets. P1s are the main routes throughout Duluth, and P2s are neighborhood streets. P3s are streets with very little traffic and alleys. If conditions deteriorate, the process repeats itself as plows fall back to clearing P1s.
Prior to issuing a snow emergency, the following items are considered: future weather forecasts, timing of the snow event, and the type and moisture content of precipitation. And one of the most important factors is accumulation rates. There’s a point at which it’s snowing so heavy and so fast that it’s safest and best to just stay home and let our snow removal team do what they can to keep main routes open.
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On October 28th the City Council adopted a revised Snow Emergency Ordinance (SEO) for Duluth. This revision came from the plow ride-along I did last March, and our drivers literally asking me NOT to use the existing one.
“Unless you want to make our job even harder” was what I was told.
The revised policy is based on their years of expertise, and we’re going to spend the next few days walking through it. Snow Emergency 101.
We don’t have much history in Duluth of using a Snow Emergency, but it’s an important tool to help us get streets plowed curb to curb faster and more efficiently. And we do that by asking us as residents to help.
Turns out the single biggest thing we can do is, MOVE OUR CARS. I saw firsthand in the March storm that when there are cars on both sides of the street the plow can’t get through, and an entire street may remain unplowed for the duration of the storm – or longer.
And it all begins with our year-round alternate side parking. Parking is ONLY permitted on both sides of the street during the change-over period on Sunday from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
Alternate side parking is the foundation for the new SEO so you can expect heavier enforcement as we head into winter. Avoid a ticket, and help out your neighborhood this winter, by parking your car where you should when you should. Click on the link below for more parking information: https://duluthmn.gov/media/c3qfqwg4/parking-calendar.pdf