MINNEAPOLIS — As the Twin Cities brace for impact from a major winter storm, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul are asking residents to prepare for disruptions that could last for several days.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appeared with school and public works officials from their respective cities Tuesday afternoon to discuss plans and preparations for the storm, which is forecast to hit in two more parts: Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday morning and then another round Wednesday afternoon/early evening through Thursday.
In St. Paul, two back-to-back snow emergencies will be in effect for Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 22-23. After initially saying several parking lots would be open for a discounted $5, the city is now opening 6,000 downtown parking spaces for residents who need to move their cars off residential city streets.
Starting Wednesday at 5 p.m., people can park their cars until Saturday morning at no cost in the following city-owned ramps:
- Smith Ramp (145 Smith Street)
- Kellogg Underground Ramp (129 Kellogg Boulevard)
- Lawson Ramp (10 West 6th Street)
- Lowertown Ramp (316 Jackson Street)
- 7A Ramp (13 West Exchange Street)
- Robert Street Ramp (95 East 7th Street)
- Block 19 Ramp (145 East 7th Street)
- World Trade Center Ramp (477 Cedar Street)
Also in St. Paul, recycling and garbage collection will be suspended Thursday and Friday. Residents are asked to keep their carts out of the street and check online for additional collection days.
"The goal of the first phase will not be to eliminate all of the snow," St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said while discussing the city's snow removal plans. "The goal of the first phase is to make the streets in St. Paul safe and passable for emergency vehicles."
"The goal of the second phase will be to remove all of the snow that we can from that, and that may take longer than a traditional snow emergency," Kershaw said.
Minneapolis also plans to issue a snow emergency Wednesday morning, though winter parking restrictions are currently in place. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, director of Public Works in Minneapolis, said the city will determine at a later time if a second snow emergency needs to go into effect.
"We are preparing for something that we have not seen in a very long time and that is a record amount of snow," Anderson Kelliher said Tuesday. "In Minneapolis that means 1,000 miles of street to be plowed, which is equal to 3,200 lane miles, meaning we could plow from Minneapolis to Anchorage, Alaska, to give a sense of the scale of what we're dealing with."
About 1,600 spaces are currently open to Minneapolis residents who need to move their cars. In addition to the city lots opening to residents, Anderson Kelliher said two additional private lots are opening spaces for free.
Current lots
- Farmer’s Market Lot (225 East Lyndale Avenue) — 309 spaces
- Basilica Lot (13 North 17th Street) — 183 spaces
- Vineland Ramp (727 Vineland Place) — 671 spaces
- 7 Points lot in Uptown (1375 West 31st Street)
- Mosaic Art Parking Ramp (1340 Lagoon Avenue)
Ready by 2 p.m. Tuesday
- Salvation Army Lot (601 North 4th Street) — 332 spaces
- Lyn-Lake Lot (2940 Garfield Avenue) — 118 spaces
Starting Wednesday at 5 p.m., St. Paul residents can enter and park their vehicles until Saturday morning at no cost at these city-owned ramps:
- Smith Ramp (145 Smith Street)
- Kellogg Underground Ramp (129 Kellogg Boulevard)
- Lawson Ramp (10 West 6th Street)
- Lowertown Ramp (316 Jackson Street)
- 7A Ramp (13 West Exchange Street)
- Robert Street Ramp (95 East 7th Street)
- Block 19 Ramp (145 East 7th Street)
- World Trade Center Ramp (477 Cedar Street)
Anderson Kelliher echoed Kershaw's sentiment that it will take several days for crews to complete snow removal.
For more on snow parking in Minneapolis and St. Paul, click here.
Tuesday morning, Gov. Tim Walz issued emergency executive orders to allow state agencies to coordinate and deal with the approaching storm. Walz said he issued the emergency executive orders to the National Guard, MnDOT and the State Patrol after a request from Maj. General Shawn Manke, which allows the agencies to start coordinating things like highway rescue plans in advance.
Winter Storm Warnings are in effect through Thursday and Blizzard Warnings will go into effect Wednesday afternoon across most of Minnesota. Heavy snowfall is expected throughout the warning areas, especially from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.
After three days, the Twin Cities area could see 10"-20" of snow.
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