Montreal borough lifts some parking restrictions because of early winter weather

Certain parking restrictions in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal have been lifted a couple week early. (Photo: Groupe CNW/Ville de Montréal - Arrondissement de Ville-Marie)

MONTREAL - The Ville-Marie borough of Montreal is allowing motorists to park in areas with restrictions that usually lift only as of Dec. 1.

The decision to ease the parking restrictions sooner than planned was due to the early onset of winter weather, in the form of a storm that dropped 20 cm of snow on the city earlier this week.

Motorists must still respect all other posted parking restrictions, the borough says, including no-parking signs in areas where snow-clearing is scheduled or in zones reserved for residential street parking.

The city of Montreal's first snow clearing of the winter began Wednesday morning. It's the earliest the city has ever deployed a snow-clearing operation.

The operation is expected to last five days.