One-sided parking pilot returns in St. Paul, but in 2 different neighborhoods

The familiar drill of alternating one-sided parking on a weekly basis will return for some St. Paul residents as the city brings back its winter parking pilot to explore ways to improve citywide snowplowing and keep residential streets passable during the year’s most challenging months.

St. Paul, with 1,800 lane miles of streets to clear, already has called three snow emergencies this year. And add in the nuisance snowfalls Dec. 29-31, and the snow that continues to collect and compact, forming ruts that drivers dread because plows can’t get to the streets fast or frequently enough.

“That is why this model is super critical,” said Lisa Hiebert, with the city’s Public Works Department. “The benefit is it would keep two-thirds of the street open all winter long without people having to move their cars.”

That would allow for plows to come by more often. And allow emergency vehicles to get through easier, too, she said.

The pilot works like this: From Jan. 4-10, some St. Paul residents will need to park their vehicles on the even-numbered side of the street.

On the second week of the month, Jan. 11-17, residents in parts of the Hamline-Midway, Union Park and Summit-University neighborhoods will need to move their wheels to the odd-numbered side of the street.

When the third week of January rolls around, they will have to shift back to the even side of the street. And the fourth week, back to the odd-numbered side. The changeover will take place on Sundays and continue through April 11.

This year’s pilot in the Summit-University area is bounded by Thomas Avenue on the north, Snelling Avenue on the east, St. Anthony Avenue/Interstate 94 on the south and Aldine Street on the west.

The second test area is bounded by Selby Avenue on the north, Western Avenue on the east, Summit Avenue on the south, and Dale Street on the west.

Snelling, University and Selby avenues and Dale Street are not included in the pilot.

In the winter of 2022-23 when the Twin Cities received nearly 90 inches of snow — the third snowiest ever in the Twin Cities — St. Paul declared seven snow emergencies. That year, 20,600 tickets were issued to drivers who didn’t move their vehicles to a proper parking space, according to the city.

Plow drivers got discussions rolling on how to improve operations. That led to the first pilot last year in the Payne-Phalen and Highland Park neighborhoods. There, the number of tickets decreased each week as people caught on, Hiebert said.

St. Paul can’t ban on-street parking, Hiebert said, so this year’s pilot will see how one-sided parking works in more densely populated sections of the city. Data collected over these two years will help the city design new winter parking rules.

“This is not a model we can drop on all of St. Paul,” Hiebert said. “This is a feasibility study to learn what works and what doesn’t work. It is essential we get it right.”

Notices about the pilot were sent to neighborhoods in the program. In the spring, the city will survey residents to learn how they were affected.