City Declares Snow Emergency

Portsmouth Public Works Department officials declared a snow emergency on Friday morning just hours before a blizzard arrives that could dump 2 feet of snow on the city this weekend.

City Public Works Department Director Steve Parkinson said the snow emergency parking ban will go into effect on Friday at 7 p.m. and the parking ban for the downtown geographical area will go into effect on Saturday at 1 a.m.

According to public works officials, the downtown geographical area includes the following streets: Deer Street on the north; Market, Bow and Marcy streets on the east; Court Street on the south; and Middle, Maplewood and Bridge streets on the west. This area includes State Street (Middle to Marcy), Chestnut Street, Porter Street, Fleet Street, Court Place, Church Street, Pleasant Street (Court to Congress), Penhallow Street, Custom House Court, Sheafe Street, Chapel Street, Daniel Street, Congress Street, Market Street (Congress to Deer), Ladd Street, High Street and Hanover Street (Bridge to Market).

Parkinson said any vehicle that is parked on any city street during the snow emergency will be ticketed and towed. He said vehicles must be kept off the streets so public works crews can conduct their snow removal operations. He also said that city officials would announce when the snow emergency ends.

For more information, city residents can call the Snow Phone at 766-7669  (SNO-SNOW), visit the city's website, or watch Comcast channel 22.