Snow Routes, Parking and Bare Pavement
The offending new blanket parking ban signs.
Following up to last week’s post on the latest round of Snow Policy work, I can confirm that Council intervened and, as you may have read in the media, the blanket seasonal parking ban on bus routes has been suspended.
At the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting on September 6, I proposed that all we need to do is re-define what we mean by Snow Route. Then we can continue to use the existing signage, rather than spend more money on new signs. (Although in newer areas signage for snow routes would need to be added along bus routes).
Snow Routes as currently defined in the Transportation Bylaw can be declared in effect after a snowfall, which then bans parking for 72 hours to facilitate snow removal. They haven’t been declared since 1994. Part of the challenge is that we really need cars out of the way when it starts snowing so we can get the plows through quickly and push windrows against the curb. It then can take several weeks to remove those windrows, so the parking restriction would need to remain in place until the windrows have been removed and then and only then would parking be restored.
Most of the feedback I’ve received understands this kind of tradeoff; people were really concerned about losing the parking for the whole winter, but I believe most can accept losing it for short periods to facilitate quicker and cost effective plowing and removal.
The other main concern I, and others, heard was that if those residents on Snow Routes were going to be forced to use their alleys for a period of time they should get some priority to ensure continued access to their on-site parking at the rear of their properties. Transportation Services agreed with that.
Others are opposed to losing parking at all but we all learned last year that it’s futile to manage snow around parked cars on busy roads.
Other cities made different (probably better) decisions and have wide boulevards where they can push that snow but regrettably Edmonton only has boulevards on about a third of our streets. I wish we could change that but all we can do now is push to have boulevards again on bus routes in new neighbourhoods being built, and perhaps make some retrofits over time, which the city is looking at.
The other parking change that was discussed, but somewhat overshadowed, was for narrow local roads (less than 8.8 metres). This will go ahead year-round for safety reasons, mainly to ensure access for emergency vehicles; however, this will only restrict parking to one side of the street. On-street parking will still be available for residents, it might just be across the street now. And yes there will be half as much, but this move is long overdue.
The other major discussion was about moving to bare pavement rather than a 5cm snow pack on local roads. This will mean bigger windrows, and perhaps a tradeoff that people will be responsible for clearing larger windrows from their own driveways. Discussion on this will continue at Council tomorrow, Sept 14.
I am all for windrows and bare roads…the snowpack left on the roads is predominantly responsible for the potholes in our other season. The rationale that roadside parking is problematic shouldn’t be the focus. Roads are not for parking, they are for navigating. Driveways, garages, parkades are for parking. If you have a car, it is your responsibility to have a place for it. The pavement in front of your house is NOT actually your property.
I own an older home in a mature neighbourhood and like a lot of residents of these neighbourhoods (about 1/3 of the houses on my street), I do not have a garage or a driveway. I don’t mind parking on the other side of the street, or moving my car (with good notice – last winter it seemed like the times that KEP were supposed to be cleared were never the days that it actually was, so I moved my car to park illegally at the Bonnie Doon mall before heading to work on the bus for no good reason 3 days last winter). I’d love to be car-free and just take my bike and the bus everywhere, but I think we can all agree that Edmonton as a city is not designed for a car-free lifestyle, so we have to take into consideration in the way we roll out services, including road clearing.
A related issue might be for the city to encourage car-sharing companies across the city. I’m not sure the extent that these exist yet in Edmonton, but in Vancouver they’re already starting to pick up to the point where a cheap pay-as-you-go car is typically within a few blocks. Residents will initially complain about these cars on their streets taking up parking stalls, only to realize soon that each shared Smart car (or other subcompact) represents several larger vehicles off the road.
Hi Don, – The removal of cars from one side of those 8.8 meter roads will also result in higher speeds (just an observation and something to think about). People are smart enough to understand snow routes if a public education campaign is in place – maybe make a smartphone app to warn people (though our parents got by without that when snow routes were enforced). Lastly, this city needs better planning…just saying.
Two-sided parking on residential streets is a cost-effective traffic calming measure that forces vehicles to slow down for oncoming traffic. In older neighbourhoods with grid style streets, two-sided parking not only reduces speeding but also short-cutting. Businesses in older neighbourhoods also tend to have insufficient off-street parking and we rely on two-sided parking to deal with the overflow.
I don’t buy for one minute that one-sided parking is needed for emergency vehicles – not the way they race done my street with sirens blaring. Oncoming traffic is required to give way for emergency vehicles in any case. There is plenty of width for emergency vehicles to get by even with vehicles parked on both sides.
The City failed its first test of the snow removal year with the fiasco downtown this Monday – it took me two hours to get from 100 AVE and 104 ST to the High Level Bridge. Today (Nov. 17) was a big improvement – city sand trucks had obviously been busy and the hills were well sanded and the roads albeit snowy but easily travelled due to the sand. I agree with Janice MacDonald’s post above that the 5 cm rule creates potholes as evidenced this past spring, plus it creates ruts. Last winter I had several thousand dollars of damage to the undercarriage of my new car, even the headlight washers were busted up by the snow pack. When I got my new car in the summer of 2010, several of my friends who used to live here, sent me Facebook comments to never drive it in Edmonton. They were so right. Our roads are an international joke. This year, I had to buy a winter SUV so my new car is not a snow plow again. I don’t even want an SUV but transit is unreliable and takes an hour to get me to work, when it is a 15 minute trip by car on a slow day.
I retired to Edmonton a few years ago and was appalled at the very poor snow clearing procedures here. I lived for over 40 years in Ontario, have family and friends in Quebec and Nova Scotia. In all other major cities in Canada there is a universal overnight parking ban on all streets from November 1 to March 31. Residents accept that fact that their cars are their responsibility and ensure that their garages are clear and driveways available (often widening them when necessary) to park their cars. The streets are city property. When the roads are cleared regularly there are hardly any potholes – a result of snow freezing and thawing. Also, how many accidents are caused by slippery, icy roads? How many cars damaged by potholes and claims made to the city? I know it will take some time for long-term Edmonton residents to recognize the snow clearing standards and practices in all other major cities and Canada. But let us all work together to adopt these practices and meet these standards one step at a time. There is so much that I love about Edmonton the rest of the year, let’s make Edmonton a great safe city in the winter too!