The city of Minneapolis will lift winter parking restrictions Thursday at 10 a.m. after more than a month of limiting parking spots on non-snow emergency routes.

Prior to the change — which came about because of excessive snow accumulation — the city mandated that vehicles park only on the odd side of the street. Now, drivers will be able to park freely along the routes.

The city issued 8,170 tickets this winter for vehicles violating the winter parking restrictions.

City spokesman Casper Hill said recent warm temperatures allowed the city to end the ban, but a snow emergency is still possible this year and would temporarily bring back the parking restrictions.

“We had the one-sided parking ban,” he said. “[But] the temperatures are inching up, and now the snow banks have melted to a degree where that is not as big an issue as it was.”

University of Minnesota sophomore Dylan Diekmann said he’s glad the restrictions are ending because he doesn’t have a parking permit for a garage and the ban makes it hard to find street parking.

“It’ll be really nice to have more spots available,” he said.