Every town we work in has a rule about the sidewalk in front of your house, and the rule always has a clock. What surprises people is how short some of the clocks are. Here’s the quick tour; the full tables are in each state guide.

The short ones

  • Ellendale, Delaware: 2 hours. A town of about 500 people has the tightest deadline we found anywhere.
  • Baltimore City and Annapolis: 3 hours after the snow stops, or by 11 a.m. if it stopped overnight. Annapolis now adds a $200–$2,000 fee if the city has to clear it for you.
  • Erie, Pennsylvania: 3 hours. In a city that averages 104 inches a year.
  • Lancaster: 5 hours, or 10 a.m. after an overnight storm.
  • Philadelphia: 6 hours, with a 36-inch path and fines from $50 to $300.
  • Allentown: 10 hours. Frederick and Gaithersburg: 12 hours.
  • Steamboat Springs: same day, every day, from November 20 to April 15.

The standard ones

Most places land at 24 hours: Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton, State College, the Main Line townships, Wilmington, Newark, Dover, Montgomery County, Salisbury, Easton, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Durango, and nearly the whole Denver metro. Denver’s own rule for homes is “by the next day,” with a 24-hour countdown once the city notices.

The generous ones

48 hours in Howard County, Prince George’s County, Cranberry Township, and Castle Rock (for storms of 2 inches or more). Anne Arundel County gives 24 hours for small storms and 48 for anything over 3 inches. Rockville scales it: 24 hours up to 3 inches, 48 up to 9, 72 beyond that.

The rules that aren’t about time

Two more show up almost everywhere. First: don’t put snow in the street. Colorado makes it state law with per-day fines; Baltimore County, Frederick, Westminster, Easton, Philadelphia, Allentown, Lakewood, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Steamboat all say it in their own words, and Baltimore adds bike lanes to the list. Second: keep the hydrant clear. Annapolis, Montgomery County, Reading, and Colorado Springs ask for it specifically.

Both of those are map rules for us. Sidewalk and apron throw zones aim onto your lawn, never toward the road, and hydrants get a no-throw buffer.

Why the clock doesn’t matter to a robot

Every deadline above starts when the snow stops. A plow contract starts working then too, six to ten hours later on a typical route. The robot starts when the snow starts, and it keeps cycling until the pavement is clear. By the time Baltimore’s three hours begin, the walk has been clear for most of the night.

Some of the deadlines are things you’d never hit on a weekday morning with a shovel: three hours, at 6 a.m., in wet snow, before work. That’s exactly the morning the robot was built for.

Deadlines change and fines vary; check your own municipality before relying on any of this. We update the state guides each fall.

Curious whether your driveway qualifies? Find out in about two minutes.

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