St. Paul enacts one-side parking restrictions in response to snow

St. Paul is following Minneapolis in limiting parking to one side of residential streets for the remainder of winter.

Driving the news: Starting at 8am Friday, drivers are banned from parking on even-numbered sides of residential streets — typically the south or east sides.

• The restrictions will be in place until April 15. Violators could be ticketed or towed.

The big picture: The unusually snowy winter, which is on track to crack the top 10 seasons on record for total accumulation, has clogged and narrowed streets.

• That pile up creates headaches for plows, emergency responders, buses and regular drivers.

What they're saying: "The goal of this is to make sure that we can get fire trucks to your house, to make sure that we can get ambulances to your business if we need to do that," Mayor Melvin Carter said Wednesday.

Flashback: Minneapolis announced its own parking restrictions in late January. Hundreds of cars were towed, and thousands more got tickets, in the first days of enforcement.

Of note: Public works director Sean Kershaw also asked residents to make sure they make garbage cans accessible without leaving them in the street to ensure there are enough spots on the road.

• Drivers on main, also known as arterial, streets can continue to follow posted parking rules.