CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - The process of clearing snow out of parking spots in downtown Charlottetown was set to begin late Thursday night into Friday morning.
Many of the parking spots in downtown Charlottetown were plugged with snow on Thursday following more than 20 centimetres of snow that hit the capital city throughout the day on Wednesday.
Scott Adams, manager of public works for the city, said plows were out during the early morning hours of Thursday clearing the streets and there is simply nowhere else to push the snow but into the metered parking spots.
“It’s a safety hazard for vehicles and pedestrians (to put the snow in the centre of the road) so it has to go, unfortunately, to the right,’’ Adams said.
The public works manager said plows were out around 2 a.m. on Thursday opening up the streets and were pulled back to the public works garage by 7:30 a.m.
“Everyone probably saw at that point the roads were already starting to bear up and were in fairly good shape for the 8 o’clock morning rush.’’
The city’s sidewalk machines were also sent out at 2 a.m. Thursday, with 95 to 99 per cent of them cleared by 8 a.m.
“We were very pleased with how it went for our first major snowfall of the year and so now we’re into cleanup mode (Thursday) night.’’
“It makes work a lot easier for us and it makes it so that we can get off the road much quicker and they can go (back to parking) on the road so it’s a great team effort by the public and we really appreciate their help in this matter.
-Scott Adams
The city was sending out its loaders and sidewalk machines Thursday night, pushing all of the white stuff out into the centre of the road and piling it up. Then it sends in the big snowblowers to come in and transfer the snow into dump trucks to be hauled away.
“We expect, probably, about a three-night cleanup until we’re fully done, but our cleanup (Thursday night) is on the downtown core, especially the metered parking and those areas right now.’’
The city’s parking ban remains in effect while the work is ongoing. Vehicles must be moved off the street between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“We don’t want to have to ticket and tow anyone, that’s not our intent.’’
Adams said police aim to get in touch with any vehicle owner that may be in the way of a plow. The idea is to tackle residential areas before moving into the downtown core so as to not interfere with any late-night businesses that may be open.
Adams said to the best of his knowledge no vehicles were ticketed or towed in Charlottetown on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
“It makes work a lot easier for us and it makes it so that we can get off the road much quicker and they can go (back to parking) on the road so it’s a great team effort by the public and we really appreciate their help in this matter.
