Sunday, March 22, 2105 (Halifax, NS) – The Halifax Regional Municipality is advising residents to plan their morning commute accordingly on Monday, keeping in mind that people will be returning to work and school after the March Break, many streets and sidewalks are still narrow and snow-covered and there continues to be no parking on the street.
The municipality has been working with Halifax Regional Police and Halifax RCMP to fully enforce Section 139 of the provincial Motor Vehicle Act, which restricts all on-street parking during snow removal. Those parking restrictions will continue on Monday.
We want to thank residents for abiding by these restrictions over the last few days. The municipality is assessing road conditions regularly and will advise residents when on-street parking can resume. We would encourage businesses to consider adjusting delivery times for loading and unloading to avoid peak traffic periods, wherever possible.
In anticipation of the increased traffic tomorrow and the ongoing parking restrictions, Halifax Transit will be extending free bus and ferry service on Monday, March 23. This will help keep vehicles off the street and ensure emergency vehicles and buses are able to get around. It will also facilitate ongoing work to widen the roads and remove the snow to improve access and visibility for all users.
Crews have been working day and night since Thursday to open up all the streets, including residential side streets and cul-de-sacs, after the Halifax region received more than 100 centimetres of snow last week. Operations staff will continue to assess the list of priority areas for snow removal, including reaching out to Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency and Halifax Transit to determine the remaining problem areas for those larger vehicles.
In the meantime, motorists are advised to allow more time to travel to their destination and to slow down and keep an eye out for pedestrians, particularly children walking to school, as high snow banks and poor visibility are causing problems in some areas.
Crews are continuing to work on the sidewalks across the region today to ensure pedestrians can safely get around on Monday morning. On main route and residential sidewalks, crews are focusing on opening up walkways on one whole side of the street and punching out bus stops and crosswalks on the other side. Work will continue over the coming days to complete all of these routes.
As well, in anticipation of classes starting back up Monday, crews were directed to focus on opening up the sidewalks around schools and the feeder sidewalks connecting to them, to ensure a safer commute for students.
Most municipal services will resume as per usual on Monday, including collection of garbage, organics and recyclables. There may be some delays due to the road conditions. If they’re able, residents are asked to set their waste back from the curb to avoid it being hit by snow-clearing equipment.
For more information on snow clearing operations and impacts to municipal services, please visit www.halifax.ca/snow.
Source: Release
