Snow plow pilot launches in Midway and Union Park

Winter arrived with a bang as November ended, resulting in a snow emergency that began Nov. 30, 2025. How snow is plowed in residential neighborhoods could change in the future, with the St. Paul Department of Public Works continuing its experiment with one-side street parking.
This snow season’s two pilot project areas include parts of the Hamline-Midway and Union Park neighborhoods. A second project is in the Summit-University area.
Letters went out in late November to affected residents and business owners. A neighborhood meeting was held Dec. 1.
The pilots begin on Sunday, Jan. 4, and continue through Saturday, April 12. All vehicles in the pilot neighborhoods will have to park according to a weekly alternating side schedule.
The pilot projects are part of Public Works’ efforts to improve snow plowing, according to Public Works Director Sean Kershaw. He discussed the projects with city council members earlier this fall as part of the 2026 Public Works budget presentation. At that time pilot areas hadn’t been announced.
St. Paul has declared citywide one-sided residential neighborhood parking in the past as a response to heavy snow seasons. The last citywide one-sided parking bans were in 2019 and 2023.
The snowy winter of 2022-2023 sparked discussion of ways to improve snow plowing. That winter led to residential streets being especially affected, as snow piles narrowed the traffic and parking lanes. The Twin Cities had almost 90 inches of snow that winter.
Since then St. Paul city officials have studied snow removal practices in other northern tier cities.
The Snelling-University pilot area is broken into two areas, one north of University Avenue and one to the south. University and Snelling avenues, which are mixed-use streets and snow emergency routes, are not part of the pilot.
In Hamline-Midway, east-west streets are Thomas, Edmund, Charles and Sherburne avenues. North south streets are Fry and Aldine streets.
In Union Park, the east-west streets are Spruce Tree, Shields and St. Anthony avenues. The north-south streets are Roy, Fry, Pierce and Aldine.
District council committees in both neighborhoods have discussed the pilot and will be monitoring it carefully.
If successful, the parking system could be used citywide.
A goal for the pilots leaves two-thirds of a street open through one-sided parking. That gives Public Works crews the chance to plow the drive lanes and one parking lane, and to avoid the snow buildup that occurs when day plowing takes place.
In the pilot area, crews would not ticket and tow during the first two weeks of the pilot programs.
The program uses an even-odd system, which was outlined in the letters. During the “even” weeks, vehicles must park on the side of the street with even-numbered addresses, which are typically located on the south and east sides of the streets.
During the “odd” weeks, vehicles must park on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses, which are typically located on the north and west sides of the streets. Sundays are the “changeover” days. Within the pilot areas, each Sunday between 3-9 p.m., people must move their vehicles to the other side of the street.
The city website explains that during snow emergencies, the pilot parking rules in the pilot areas would still apply.