Overnight Street Parking Ban
Winter is about to hit in Chicago, and we all know how hard it could be to find parking, let alone legal parking. The City of Chicago mandates an overnight parking ban from December 1st to April 1st across the city between the hours of 3:00 am and 7:00 am. The major roads this has an effect on include Milwaukee from Foster and Central all the way to Downtown. Central also falls under this rule from Foster to Madison. 107 miles of streets are affected. That’s 107 miles where you better not keep your car! For a map of all streets this will effect click here.
The City also imposes a parking ban when there is more than 2″ of snow on the ground during the winter months. Make sure to look at this map before parking in the snow, which was not activated often. For the 2 inch snow ban, the streets affected widen to over 500 miles. While many loath these restrictions and all the pain they bring, they were implemented for a reason. The blizzards of 1967 and 1979 brought Chicago to a near stand still. These restrictions are in place as a way to preemptively avoid these past snow caused parking mis haps. The city of Chicago really is looking out. Check out this article of what the city is doing to help citizens better prepare for the winter.
How to avoid this parking problem?
We offer monthly parking all over the city, you can get your car off the streets and have a worry free winter. If you are coming down to the city for the day, we offer parking across the city which will allow you to enjoy your visit and take the worry factor out of parking, as well as steep parking rates.
Helpful parking ban links
City of Chicago Parking Ban info – Here you will find what The City of Chicago wrote about the parking ban providing a clear explanation of the reasoning behind the parking ban. They also include helpful maps that show you where closures are for both the overnight ban as well as the 2″ ban.
CBS – Here you will discover what some people have to say about this ban. You will find dialog from interviews performed by reporters of people who got towed almost instantly after the ban started.
Last year according to the Chicago Tribune, 188 cars were towed in the early AM the ban took effect which was down from 215 cars the year before. This year, there’s no telling how many cars will be towed, but with the large budget deficit the city has, this would be an easy way for Chicago to close part of the gap. Make sure to also be aware Residential Permit Parking bans. If you move your car from an arterial street to one which requires a residential parking permit, you’ll be hit with a parking ticket. Make sure to read the signs carefully. Not just the winter parking ban signs but the street signs as well. Some helpful citizens use neighborhood website Everyblock.com. Please help yourself and your neighbors and use this site to alert them.
If you get towed
Your car will be take to a city impound lot. There you’ll be forced to pay 150 bucks just for the first day and it will include a $50 parking ticket and then storage fees along with daily fees which will increase beyond that. We have heard first hand accounts of people getting their cars towed while on vacation. When they return to find out their car has been towed and go to the tow facility, they find out that they actually owe more money than the car is actually worth.
SpotHero plans to rescues drivers who get their cars towed on the first night the ban goes into effect. Drivers can email SpotHero on December 1 with proof their vehicle was towed and they will receive a free parking spot.
Check out WasMyCarTowed.com to see if your car was towed and where it was relocated to.
