Frequently Asked Questions

No parking is allowed overnight from December until April per City ordinance. The ban enables Public Works crews to respond to ice and snow events and keep street clear and safe throughout the winter.

Public Works crews must be able to respond to weather events as they occur. While a snowstorm is usually predictable, icing events are not. Our hardworking Public Works team is ready to hit the streets whenever sanding or ice/snow clearing is needed. This requires that City streets be free of vehicles, as many South Portland streets are too narrow for our 11-foot wide plow trucks with 11-foot wings to pass if vehicles are parked. Cars parked on the street during the overnight or emergency parking ban slow down and otherwise negatively impact snow removal and sanding operations. They can also block emergency vehicles from being able to pass.

Many nearby communities, including Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook, Gorham, Falmouth, Bangor, and Augusta have an overnight parking ban like South Portland’s. Communities that implement only storm-related parking bans might have plow equipment that is narrower than South Portland’s, a bigger fleet with separate trucks doing the plowing and sanding, wider streets where getting a plow truck through isn’t as much of a challenge, or limited on-street parking in general.

The City offers our lots on Waterman Drive, at the Bug Light Boat Launch, and Willard Beach. These locations are suitable for parking during the winter overnight parking ban and emergency bans. Cars must be removed from these lots within 24 hours after the end of a storm (when precipitation ends) to allow the Public Works Department to plow the lots and remove snow as necessary. Read more.

The Public Works department sometimes puts an emergency parking ban in effect, prohibiting parking on streets during certain hours (including daytime hours). This enables crews to efficiently and effectively remove snow resulting from a storm. If an emergency parking ban is put in place, the City will announce this on our website and social media channels.

The City offers our lots on Waterman Drive, at the Bug Light Boat Launch, and Willard Beach. These bus-accessible locations are suitable for parking during the winter overnight parking ban and emergency bans. There are limited public lots in other parts of the City where parking would not impede snow removal operations or impact programming. Some have suggested the Community Center lots should be used, for example. This is not possible because all cars must be out of the Community Center lots 1) in order for Public Works to keep the lots clear of snow and ice; and 2) to ensure that the limited parking spaces remain available to the many community members who visit the Center. The City continues to think about potential overnight parking options in other areas of the City. This would likely require partnerships with businesses, which presents challenges as they must also keep their lots clear and ensure parking for their customers.

The City clears sidewalks on walking routes to schools, around the Maine Mall, and the Greenbelt. Public Works has 4 sidewalk operators and 4 sidewalk machines that work on clearing snow from sidewalks after a storm. These machines and employees run 24-7 to make the sidewalks safe to pass. Sidewalks are cleared after streets are plowed so that sidewalks are not filled back in from the plow trucks. Public Works crews begin with the sidewalks on school travel routes. Then they work on clearing the rest of the sidewalks on main arterials for a number of days after the snow event ends. 

Some residents and businesses shovel or plow snow onto sidewalks or into streets. Not only is this against City ordinance, but it delays the snow removal process. With no extra staff or machines to cover breakdowns we could have a delay in clearing the sidewalks. Please be sure to keep shoveled/plowed snow out off of the City right-of-way. 

Our dedicated Public Works team clears snow from 330 lane miles of roads and 40 miles of sidewalk during a snowstorm!