Edmonton parking ban to follow snowstorm, starting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

EDMONTON -

The capital region's first snowstorm of the season saw semis jackknifed on provincial highways, school bus service cancelled, and warnings sent to drivers about poor road conditions. 

Between 15 and 20 centimetres of snow was expected to fall in Edmonton over Monday night and Tuesday morning. 

About 80 truck units since Monday had been working to plow top-priority roads, like major arterial routes, collector bus runs, and freeways. 

They were also tasked with prioritizing Commonwealth Stadium routes, entrances and parking lots, as Team Canada was set to play its second match against Mexico there Tuesday evening to qualify for the World Cup. 

The city is calling in all the extra contractors it can, Andrew Grant, Edmonton's supervisor of infrastructure operations, said. 

"With it being the first snowfall and it being fairly favorable weather, there's been a lot of melting happening. So it's created somewhat of a wet layer between the snow and the hard surface," he told media. 

Edmonton's first snowstorm of the season hit Nov. 15 and 16, 2021, ahead of Team Canada's second World Cup qualifier game against Mexico.

"Our goal is just to try to get it off of the surface as quick as possible to avoid that from freezing and adhering to that asphalt surface."

PARKING BAN IN EFFECT TUESDAY EVENING 

The snowfall means Edmonton will, for the first time, implement its new phased parking ban system starting Tuesday evening. 

The system was launched in 2020 and not needed that season. 

The new parking ban consists of two phases. In the first phase, crews clear arterial and collector roads (including neighbourhoods with seasonal parking signs), bus routes and business improvement areas. Drivers will be allowed to park on residential streets during this phase.

In Phase 2, crews clear residential and industrial roads, the city said. Drivers can park in their driveway, a parking space, on a neighbour's property with permission, or on any road cleared during Phase 1 where parking is normally allowed.

A Phase 1 parking ban will take effect Tuesday at 7 p.m. Officials estimated it will last about 48 hours, but said the city will notify residents when it's officially over. 

"We want to make sure that our residential areas have adequate snow in them to achieve that five-centimetre snow pack, so as that snow accumulates in those residential areas, it gets packed in. We're going to have our inspectors out monitoring those levels of compacted snow… so then if we see future storms, that's when Phase 2 of the parking ban will come into effect," Grant said. 

"One of the impacts of going into the residential areas too early is that the plows and the trucks will actually break through that snowpack and then create a very inconsistent groomed surface for citizens to travel on, and it actually could be more problematic than just waiting."

Edmontonians can sign up for parking ban alerts or view an interactive snow-clearing status map online. 

TRAFFIC DIRECTED AROUND JACKKNIFED SEMI 

The city's first snowstorm of the season walloped the Edmonton region.

Between 5:30 and 4 p.m. Tuesday, 80 crashes were reported to Edmonton police. In four crashes, people were hurt. Eight were classified as hit-and-runs and 68 resulted in some kind of property damage. 

The capital region's first snowstorm of the season on Nov. 15 and 16, 2021, saw semis jackknifed on provincial highways, school bus service cancelled, and warnings sent to drivers about poor road conditions.

On Anthony Henday Drive, between the 127 Street and 97 Street exits, a jackknifed semi cut off traffic across several lanes. Police redirected drivers off of 97 Street until 11 a.m. 

A school bus also ended up on its side in the centre median of east Anthony Henday. RCMP said a driver and their two kids were on board, but none were hurt. 

Grant asked drivers to be mindful of crews clearing roads. 

"Give them lots of room. They've got a very stressful and rigorous job to do.."

WARNING TO DRIVERS

City police in Edmonton and Mounties around the capital region warned drivers of high wind, poor visibility, and snow and ice. 

Truckers were asked to avoid Highway 15 near Fort Saskatchewan and 17 Street south of Baseline in Sherwood Park, where transport trucks had been unable to drive the slope early Tuesday morning. 

School bus service was cancelled by the Greater St. Albert Catholic and Aspen View Public school divisions.