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Parking ban

Over night restrictions begin Sunday

HOUGHTON AND BARAGA COUNTIES -- Winter parking bans will go into effect in all villages and cities in Houghton and Baraga Counties Sunday. Bans in Houghton, Hancock, Baraga, L'Anse, Calumet, Laurium, Lake Linden and South Range will take in effect Sunday, starting at 2 a.m.

Houghton Police Department Lieutenant Kirk Mills said Houghton's Department of Public Works (DPW) operates in the early morning, around the same time as the ban, and needs the roads clear. “The night parking ban is necessary for the snowplows -- the whole DPW crew -- to keep our streets clean and so they don't get too narrow," he said.

Mills added the fine for keeping cars parked on the street overnight is $35, as well as a $100 towing cost.

The neighboring city across the bridge, Hancock, operates largely the same with their parking ban as Houghton does. Hancock Police Department Lieutenant David Outinen said the streets need to be cleared for the city's DPW. Hancock's fines start at $35 for an offense, not including the towing cost.

"It's [the ban] mainly for plowing streets, so their plows are able to clear the streets of snow," he said. "In the spring, it's for sweeping, but that's only downtown."

Outinen said if people have questions about Hancock's night parking ban, they need to contact the police department or city hall.

"The problem is you get spells of no snowing people get a little lax with that," he said. "They go to bed at night and then all of a sudden they wake up in the morning and we've got a lot of snow and now their car is towed."

Seven municipalities in the Keweenaw have these bans in place, including all of the major villages and the two cities within Houghton County.

Houghton County Road Commission Manager/Engineer Kevin Harju said the county has its own parking ban on primary roads. "Our parking ban is from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., from Nov. 1 to April 15," he said. "It was Public Act 300 from 1949, which allowed road commissions to be able to put that parking ban in effect."

Harju echoed the municipalities in the area and said this is all in the name of road safety. "If there are vehicles parking in the road our plows can't get through. Sometimes if they try to get through with the plow, there's damage to the vehicles as they go by," he said. That's why it's there, so we have a chance to push the banks back and make it wide enough so you get two-direction traffic."

Winter parking bans:

Baraga – Nov. 1 thru Mar. 31, 2:30 a.m.-8 a.m.

Calumet – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2 a.m.-7 a.m.

Hancock – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2:30 a.m.-7 a.m.

Houghton – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2 a.m.-7 a.m.

Lake Linden – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2 a.m.-7 a.m.

L'Anse – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2 a.m.-7 a.m.

Laurium – Nov. 1 thru April 30, 2 a.m.-7 a.m.

South Range – Nov. 1 thru April 1, 3 a.m.-7 a.m.

County primary and secondary roads – Nov. 1 thru April 15, 2 a.m.-8 a.m.

For more information about your municipality's parking ban, visit its Facebook page or government website.