Halifax through half its snow clearing budget, on track for rest of winter season

Snowy conditions sparked an overnight parking ban in Halifax.

The Halifax Regional Municipality has started snow clearing operations and will continue through the day into Thursday morning.

“Crews started working this morning around 7 a.m. It started with de-icing materials, like salt, being applied to streets and sidewalks,” says Jake Fulton, public affairs advisor with the Halifax Regional Municipality.

“They continue right now as the snow is falling to clear snow, mainly on priority one streets and sidewalks, and they will continue through the night into tomorrow as the snow keeps falling.”

Snow routes are in effect for Halifax Transit Wednesday, while the only impact to the ferry service is a 30-minute service disruption for the Alderney ferry. Any additional interruptions will be announced on their website.

The overnight parking ban is in effect starting at 1 a.m. until 6 a.m.

“We are asking folks to not park on the street in either zone one or two,” says Fulton.

This is the eighth time the city has enforced the overnight parking ban so far this winter, a step the city says is necessary to clear the roads properly.

“The number is approaching 4,000 tickets for vehicles impeding snow clearing efforts and, over the same period of time, from Dec. 15 until earlier this week, there were approximately 400 vehicles towed,” says Fulton.

Fulton adds these numbers are on the low end, as they don’t include the number of tickets and tows both RCMP and Halifax Regional Police have had.

“We park one of our vehicles on the street, but when they don’t enforce it, our street becomes very narrow because they are not able to clear the snow properly, so I think it’s a good thing,” says Halifax resident Sue Doucher.

“I live pretty central and there’s not a lot of parking. I think a lot of residents are getting a lot of tickets and stuff just because we don’t know where to park and not everybody has the opportunity to pay for parking,” adds Halifax resident Mya Grant.

On a storm like Wednesday, the city says a fleet of 250 vehicles, including their contractors, are out clearing snow, and they won’t stop until it’s all cleared.

The city is about halfway through their snow clearing budget for this year and says we are on track for the rest of the clearing season.

“Our current update is only up to Dec. 31 of 2025, but we were at about half of the budget. We were at the $20M mark of a little over $40M budget,” says Fulton.

The owner of a downtown Halifax café is grateful for the clearing efforts, but says sometimes the left-over snow makes it challenging for customers to park.

“When the snow comes, there’s just tons of it and the snow plows come and make huge snow drifts and it can really impact the number of parking spots across from the café. So, that right away limits the number of people coming in,” says Heather Stephen, Apartment 3 Espresso Bar co-owner.

Stephen says the café has had to close three times this winter due to the weather – a difficult decision during their toughest months of the year. She adds they rely a lot on catering and are grateful for the customers that make the trip in.

“We are constantly on our toes about what makes sense for today and for sales, and we want to be open for people as much as we can in the winter months,” says Stephen.

Stephen looks forward to spring when things tend to pick back up – and she isn’t alone in that. Many Maritimers are fed up with all the snow and the disruptions that come with it.

“A lot of people didn’t get their garbage picked up because they had nowhere else to put it except on top of the snowbanks,” adds Grant.

“I am just ready for summer,” says Dartmouth resident Kate Raye.

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