With the first major winter storm of the season, the City of Madison is implementing a comprehensive package of new winter efforts to improve awareness of snow emergencies and winter parking regulations, increase compliance with these regulations, and ultimately allow the City to efficiently clear City streets.

City of Madison services remain open today, as storms taper off through the afternoon. City Committees schedules to meet tonight are making decisions on an individual basis. The Transit and Parking Commission will meet tonight. The Public Safety Review Board and the Affirmative Action Commission have cancelled their meetings. For further updates, visit http://www.cityofmadison.com/cityHall/WeeklySchedule/.

Alert Madison

Alert Madison, the city's new text messaging system, is in effect, with over 900 subscribers and growing every day. Subscribers received notification this morning of today's declared snow emergency. Over 3700 email subscribers received this notification as well. Additional emails are also available with plowing updates.

Subscribers can also sign up for Metro alerts, a service that has over 500 text subscribers and nearly 2000 email subscribers. These alerts include weather, detour, supplemental school service and paratransit alerts.

Anyone can sign up for text or email alerts for both snow emergencies and Metro service by visiting http://www.cityofmadison.com/winter. Residents can also check this site for all things having to do with snow and the City of Madison: Sidewalk Snow & Ice Removal, Snow Plowing, Alternate Side Parking, Snow Emergency Zone, Declared Snow Emergencies, and Winter Activities.

Parking and Plowing

Along with increased public awareness efforts, there will also be increased fines for parking violations during snow emergencies this winter. Fines were raised this season to $60 during snow emergencies. The Streets Division will not tow cars tonight, in hopes of high compliance with parking regulations. However, the City will ticket tonight and begin towing tomorrow for those not in compliance. Tonight, residents should park on the even side of the street. Alternate side parking is in effect from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.

For more information on winter parking regulations, please visit the City's winter webpage: http://www.cityofmadison.com/winter.

Eighty-six vehicles are plowing the City's 30 salt routes and have started plowing residential streets as well. The remaining crews that will be plowing all residential streets will be starting their plowing at about 2:00 pm this afternoon.

We will have approximately 165 pieces of equipment on the road this afternoon and evening plowing all streets in the City of Madison. This effort will take anywhere from 8-10 hours to complete the 764 miles of streets in the City which also corresponds to 1702 lane miles located in the City.

Metro Service

All Metro buses remain in service, with some routes running 5 to 10 minutes behind schedule. Customers should plan to add extra time to their commute, but Metro expects buses to be back on schedule as the storm dies down this afternoon.

Snow Removal on Public Sidewalks

Due to the size and duration of the storm, the City has extended the deadline for snow removal from public sidewalks from noon on Wednesday to 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. As a reminder, Madison General Ordinance 10.28 requires the removal of all snow from the sidewalk, edge to edge for the entire length, including the curb ramps at corner lots. Any ice that remains after removing the snow shall be treated by sand or similar substance to provide traction. The first ticket for failure to remove the snow during the season is $109.00.