News-Snow-Emergency-Zone-12052019
Madison Streets Superintendent Charlie Romines admits the city’s long-standing alternate side parking policy isn’t very popular. The rule restricts street parking to one side of the street — even side on even days, odd side on odd days — from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. during the winter months. However, fewer residents will have to worry about moving their vehicles every night this winter because the snow emergency zone has been expanded.
Neighborhoods in the zone don’t have to follow the alternate side parking rule unless a snow emergency is declared.
Romines says it “should be very good news for nearly everyone.”
“The expansion of the snow emergency zone will provide relief to residents who are most likely to rely on street parking,” says Romines. “We also think it’s going to be very helpful for us operationally.”
The snow emergency zone has been expanded from the core of the isthmus to include the Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara neighborhood to the east, the Regent Street area to the west and Bay Creek to the south. It now covers the densely populated middle third of the city, roughly Forest Hill Cemetery to Olbrich Park.
Next winter the Dudgeon-Monroe will be added to the zone, completing the expansion approved by the Common Council in September.
“Being in a snow emergency zone turns off alternate side parking unless [the city] declares a snow emergency,” says Romines. “So a snow emergency turns on alternate side parking if you’re in the snow emergency zone.”
Confused? Romines admits Madison’s winter parking rules can be “complicated and difficult to communicate.”
Here’s the CliffsNotes version for people in the snow emergency zone: “If there is no snow, don’t worry about where you are parking your car tonight,” says Romines. “Three or more inches of snow, worry about where you are parking your car tonight.”
Romines encourages residents to sign up for text alerts on the city’s website so they know for sure — usually with eight hours’ notice — when a snow emergency is declared and where to park.
The goal behind alternate side parking — which is still in effect for two-thirds of the city — is to ensure streets can be cleared of snow all the way to the curb.
“We’ve had alternate side parking for a long time, decades. The idea is that every night, one side of the street would be clear for us to plow. But it rarely works out that way,” says Romines. “Enough people seem to ignore alternate side parking that it really prevented us from being able to plow properly in some areas.”
But wait, there’s more. Being in the snow emergency zone comes with a trade-off: A four-hour period, once a week during daytime hours, when street parking is restricted to one side. The city is in the process of updating some 900 parking signs to reflect the change. For now, you may notice a piece of tape on some parking signs that covers up verbiage about rules only being in place part of the year.
Some residents are familiar with the four-hour, once-a-week parking restriction — stay with us here — because of the Clean Lakes Clean Streets program. That’s been in place for years in isthmus neighborhoods and parts of the near west side, sometimes year-round, sometimes just during the summer. During these periods, the city sends out a street sweeper to capture leaves and other debris to keep them from flowing into the lakes.
Romines says the expanded snow emergency zone now lines up almost exactly with the Clean Lakes Clean Streets program area. So instead of parking restrictions changing with the season, there will be one set of rules year-round.
“During summer months, we will use that four-hour window to sweep the street. During winter months, we will use it to plow snow all the way to the curb,” says Romines. “This will help us keep snow from creeping into street parking along the curb, bike lanes and lanes of traffic — without alternate side parking.”
Romines says after the snow emergency zone is fully expanded next winter, he doesn’t expect the zone to increase further. So alternate side parking will still be the law of the land — Nov. 15 through March 15 — for the western and eastern flanks of Madison.
“These areas have different needs. Once you get west of Franklin Avenue and east of Olbrich Park, the streets are wider. Driveways are longer. There tend to be more multi-car garages. By and large, the parking situation is very different,” says Romines. “But alternate side parking still isn’t very popular in these areas, either. It just seems to create fewer problems because there is less need for street parking.”