City of Spokane will soon plow downtown and all residential streets

Citing heavy snowfall in the Spokane area, city officials declared a “stage 2 snow event” Monday morning during a news conference at City Hall.

Snow crews began an “all-city plow,” meaning residential and downtown streets will be cleared of snow.

Mayor David Condon said the plowing effort will take up to four days to complete.

Previously, crews were focusing on arterials, hospital district routes, Spokane Transit Authority fixed bus routes and residential hills. Officials said crews will still prioritize those areas.

Mark Serbousek, director of the Spokane Streets Department, said crews will begin de-icing downtown streets today and tomorrow, and if necessary, begin clearing and removing the remaining snow Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.

“We just came out of a deep freeze, so everything is compacted hard,” he said. “Now that we’ve gotten all this moisture and it’s starting to fluff up, that’s why we’re hitting those residential streets.”

With this announcement, the city is asking motorists to move cars parked on arterials, STA bus routes and along residential hill routes and residential streets to the side of the street that has even addresses.

They also are asking motorists to move off downtown street parking spaces from 2 to 6 a.m.