The weekend snowfall put a St. Paul pilot program to the test for the first time.

The “Snow Operations Pilot” began a week ago Sunday, requiring residents in the Payne-Phalen and Highland Park neighborhoods to move their cars from one side of the street to the other each week until April 6, regardless of the weather.

St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw said it’s all in an effort to plow faster and, therefore, keep road conditions safer.

“In the current model we have, people move their cars at night, and then again during the day, and sometimes a third time after that. What we’re testing out in the new pilot is move your cars every Sunday afternoon, and if we get snow, keep them where they should be legally parked,” Kershaw said.

“So what we want us is a system that allows us to get into neighborhoods faster and more often, and we hope, reduces the reliance on tickets.”

Public Works has left fliers on cars parked on the wrong side of the street in the two pilot zones as a reminder of the new rules.

“And the number of cars that were misparked has gone down all last week,” Kershaw said.

Starting Monday, Feb. 17, the fliers will end, and ticketing will begin. Kershaw said the hope is that the pilot will ultimately result in fewer tickets than winters prior, based on a similar program in Duluth.

“What we observed in Duluth is the same winter that we put out 20,000 tickets for snow parking violations, Duluth put out about 200,” Kershaw said.

“And even when you take into account, you know, that we’re three or four times the size of Duluth, that’s an enormous difference.”

Aamira Redd lives a few blocks outside of the Payne-Phalen pilot area. There was a noticeable difference in the condition of some streets, like hers, under traditional emergency rules after the weekend snowfall.

“From what I’ve noticed, they don’t do a good job plowing the roads,” Redd said.

“Just from what you can see right here, that’s a majority of the road, you know, snow and slush… I think it can be more consistent and it’s just been so dangerous.”

“So what we’re testing in this is, does this model work better for the residents?” Kershaw said.

“It’s only been one week since it started. So, we’re going to be doing a 10-week pilot. If it works, or if we think we’ve got important learnings from it, we’ll do some more pilots next winter, and then if we put in place a new model, it would be the winter after that.”

People in the pilot areas do not have to also follow traditional rules when the city is under a snow emergency, as it continued to be on Sunday.

Sunday marked “changeover day” for the week, so cars in the pilot areas had to move to the odd side of the street by 9 p.m.

CLICK HERE for more information on the pilot, including the parking schedule for 2025.

CLICK HERE to see maps of the two pilot areas.