Move your cars! Snow route parking ban takes effect Monday morning

A snow route parking ban has been called for Calgary, which comes into effect at 9 a.m. Monday to allow city crews to clear the major commuter routes after about 15 centimetres of snow fell over the weekend.

That means vehicles parked on streets designated with a snow route sign will have to be moved for 72 hours, however the ban can be lifted earlier.

The designated snow routes are typically the major roadways, collector roads and most bus routes, and are identified by blue signs with a white snowflake.

Vehicles that aren't moved can be towed and their owners issued a $75 fine.

Crews will work 24 hours a day to remove snow "curb to curb" on the affected streets during the ban.

The parking bancomes after Calgary was blanketed by about 10 centimetres of snow from Friday to Saturday, which caused commuter chaos and dozens of multi-vehicle crashes on Saturday.

Police took the unusual step of closing Deerfoot Trail from McKnight Blvd. in the north to Anderson Rd. in the south for several hours Saturday.

As of 4:30 p.m. Saturday, eight people had been taken to hospital all in non-life-threatening condition because ofcrashes on the Deerfoot.

Between 6 a.m. and 5:45p.m.on Saturday, there were 284crashes reported to police, with 34involving injuries.

Another 4.4centimetres of snow fell on Sunday, Environment Canada said.

Calgary police say there were 231 crashes Sunday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. 11 of those involved injuries.

Questions about the snow route parking ban can be directed to the city's websiteor to 311.

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