Twin Cities leaders detail blizzard plan

Representatives from both Minneapolis and St. Paul are urging residents to stay home ahead of historic snowfall potentially rivaling the Halloween blizzard of 1991. Schools will meet virtually, garbage pickup will be affected and people are being asked to move their vehicles to city and privately-owned lots and garages until Tuesday so the city can clear the streets of snow. 

“As a Minnesotan, part of my birthright is telling you how horrible the Halloween blizzard was in 1991,” said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter during a press conference inside the city of St. Paul public works shop. “If the worst-case scenario we are hearing from meteorologists comes true, this could be the second-largest snowfall event in state history. Second only to that one.” 

“We could plow from Minneapolis to Anchorage, Alaska, to give a sense of the scale of what we’re dealing with,” said Minneapolis Public Works director Margaret Anderson Kelliher at the press conference. 

Both cities anticipate declaring back-to-back snow emergencies to ensure roadways are clear for emergency and Metro Transit vehicles. The city of St. Paul has already declared snow emergencies for Wednesday and Thursday, while the city of Minneapolis plans to declare and enforce one as early as possible on Wednesday. 

To minimize the number of vehicles ticketed and towed, both cities are imploring residents with cars to park them for free at one of their many lots. Minneapolis plans to make 1,600 parking spaces available for free, generally along Lyndale Avenue, while the city of St. Paul will make 6,000 spaces available around Downtown St. Paul for free.

And residents seem to be taking advantage of it. Three of the lots made available by the city, the Vineland ramp adjacent to the Walker Art Center, the lot adjacent to the Basilica of St. Mary, and the Lyn-Lake lot were reportedly full as of 5:50 p.m. according to city officials. Lots adjacent to the Salvation Army, located at 601 N 4th St, as well as adjacent to the Minneapolis Farmers Market, were still available. 

The Salvation Army lot is accessible by Metro Transit Routes 3 and 14 on Washington Avenue, while the Farmers Market lot is accessible by hourly service on Metro Transit Route 9, as well as by Metro Transit micro on the West Lyndale Avenue frontage road. 

The city of Minneapolis will offer $1 per day parking on Ramp A over Interstate 394 in downtown Minneapolis, from 6 p.m. on February 21st through the 28th, with the exception of 4–8 p.m. on Friday, February 24, and Saturday, February 25, as well as between 4–7 p.m. on Sunday, February 26. 

Northpond Partners and The Ackerberg Group, owners of Seven Points (formerly Calhoun Square) and Mozaic developments in Uptown by the Lagoon Theater and Uptown Transit Station, respectively, will allow people to park their vehicles at their ramps for free. Both are accessible by Metro Transit Routes 6, 17, 21, 23, 114, and 612. 

In St. Paul, the city will make free parking available at the following locations, all within Downtown or Lowertown St. Paul:

• Smith Ramp, 145 Smith St.
• Kellogg Underground Ramp, 129 Kellogg Blvd
• Lawson Ramp, 10 W 6th St.
• Lowertown Ramp, 316 Jackson St.
• 7A Ramp, 13 W Exchange St.
• Robert St Ramp, 95 E 7th St.
• Block 19 Ramp, 145 E 7th St.
• World Trade Center Ramp, 477 Cedar St.

The parking made available for residents ahead of the city’s anticipated snow emergencies comes at a time when the city struggles with addressing its unhoused population. With limited shelter beds available, as well as conducting outreach to the unhoused, the city may also provide warming spaces as they anticipate a temperature drop on Friday. 

“We are working to potentially provide some warming spaces for residents in Minneapolis and more information on that, should it be needed,” said Minneapolis Public Works director Margaret Anderson Kelliher. 

Neither the cities nor Metro Transit have plans to make available Metro Transit park-and-rides for vehicle owners to store their cars. Metro Transit does not allow overnight parking at its park-and-ride lots. 

As of this writing, Metro Transit service is largely unaffected aside from some delays. Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, which serves western Dakota and northern Scott counties, will operate on a weekend schedule with no express buses into either Minneapolis or St. Paul on Wednesday and Thursday. Southwest Transit, which serves the cities of Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska, and Carver, will continue to operate its express service but not operate its Prime Edge or Prime MD services into Shakopee, Edina, Richfield and Bloomington, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. 

Nonprofit carshare provider HourCar will also remove “a large amount” of their Evie electric car share fleet from the streets to ensure they are able to get their fleet off of snow emergency streets and to reduce the number of tickets and tows they have to handle. They will also not begin clearing parking spots around their HourCar hubs until it stops snowing. Members who would like to help move Evie vehicles out of snow emergency streets can receive a $10 credit good towards a future Evie or HourCar trip. 

As for the sidewalks, which adjacent property owners are supposed to keep clear, there are usually mixed results. “We are going to study the issue [of municipal sidewalk shoveling,” said Anderson Kelliher, adding residents should help out. “This is the moment to help your neighbors. Go out there, pick up your shovel, get your snowblower going if you have it, and help out everybody else on the block. Kindness cannot be overstated at a time like this.”

Meanwhile, both Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools plan to be on distance learning this week. St. Paul Public Schools will be closed on Friday.

Saint Paul will be suspending trash and recycling collection on Thursday and Friday. Minneapolis does not plan to do so as of this writing, instead relying on a strategy of continuously plowing alleyways so waste collectors can do their job. 

All St. Paul libraries will close at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday and be closed all of Thursday. All Hennepin County libraries will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, and remain closed until the weather allows them to reopen.