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City of Duluth ends snow emergency

[Duluth, MN] The City of Duluth has concluded the snow emergency at 6:00 p.m. today, February 23. The City declared a snow emergency on Tuesday, February 22, 2022. Cars may once again park on a snow emergency route unless otherwise signed.

According to Duluth officials, the City saw a significant increase in cars using snow emergency parking lots.

“One of the successes that we saw from this snow emergency was that there were over four times of vehicle owners that utilized the snow emergency lots than from the first snow emergency that we had last December,” Community Relations Officer Alicia Kozlowski said. “These lots are a voluntary option for people living in dense neighborhoods, who may struggle to find another off-street spot, to park in for free during a snow emergency. We were glad to see more people using this resource available to them.”

The City expects that when the total number of tickets and tows are counted, they will be similar to the number issued and towed in the first snow emergency. 

“As of 3:00 p.m., the City issued 108 total tickets and a total of 42 tows,” Parking Services Manager Mark Bauer said. “In the first snow emergency, we issued approximately 150 tickets and had 46 tows. We are hopeful that those numbers will decrease in future snow events as compliance improves. Our hope is to ticket and tow as few as possible, but we need the public’s help to do that so that plow drivers can do their work.”

Interim Director of Public Works & Utilities Greg Guerrero said that the compliance was not what he and plow crews had hoped for.

“It was clear from our drivers that we still have work to do in informing residents of the requirements of the snow emergency ordinance,” Guerrero said. “We are grateful to all of those who did move their cars off of snow emergency routes as it did make a difference in how we were able to plow curb to curb. When cars are in the way of plows, it not only slows down our progress but leaves snow ruts behind, which isn’t helpful for the safety of drivers. We will continue to outreach to specific neighborhoods where compliance was an issue and hope to gain overall compliance in the future.”

To be the first to know when a snow emergency has been declared, please use the following link to sign up for a Northland Alert https://member.everbridge.net/index/453003085616005#/signup. When signing up for a Northland Alert, be sure to select Public Works &Utilities and select the “Snow Emergency” notification. To learn more about snow emergencies and for important information for future snow events, please visit www.duluthmn.gov/snow.

The City would like to thank residents and visitors for their cooperation and compliance during the snow emergency.

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