Every deadline, width and penalty here was read on September 23, 2026, off the city's own page or the municipal code that city hosts, and each one is quoted and linked beside the line it supports. Cities amend these ordinances between winters and several publish the deadline on a seasonal page that changes in autumn, so the link beside a line is what governs on the day.

Rhode Island Sidewalk Snow Removal: 5 to 72 Hours

Q: Does snow have to be cleared from the sidewalk or the street in Rhode Island?

The rules collected here are sidewalk rules, and the great majority of Rhode Island cities publish a second one about where the snow may go once it has been moved, most often forbidding it on the travelled part of the road. Both come off the same city pages linked below, and the Rhode Island cities that publish only the second are listed as such rather than folded in with the rest.

Q: Which cities in the country give you the least time?

St. Louis, Santa Fe, Sheridan, where the ordinance allows no hours at all. Above them, 57 of the 150 cities that count in hours give twelve hours or less, 74 give exactly a day, and 18 give more than a day. The widest gap inside a single state is Maine, from four hours to three days.

A rule, not a clock

What state law sets

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 24-7-1

5 to 72h

The range across its cities

[object Object] is the tightest

6 of 6

Cities with an ordinance

4 clear it themselves and bill

September 23, 2026

Read

5 publish a penalty

The short answer

Rhode Island runs from five hours in Newport to three days in Warwick

Rhode Island has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. The clock is a city's instead, and six Rhode Island cities count in hours. The tightest is Newport at five hours and the loosest Warwick at three days, a gap of 67 hours inside one state. Nationally the deadlines run from no hours at all to three days across 150 cities, and no state legislature anywhere has put a number on it.

The city named on each line below is the one that publishes the rule and the one that answers questions about it. 53 cities nationally also publish a page for reporting a walk that has not been cleared.

A city may6 of 6 cities with an ordinance6 counting in hours4 clear it themselves

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 6 Rhode Island cities that publish an ordinance

Six Rhode Island cities publish a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. The middle of the Rhode Island figures is twelve hours, against a day nationally.

Each card below carries what that city published and nothing else: the deadline in its own sentence, the sentence it was read from, and the width, the penalty and the wording about ice where the city printed them. The chip is a band derived from the wording for sorting, not a restatement of it.

Newport
Up to 6h
within five hours of daylight, after the ceasing to fall of any snow
No owner, occupant, or other person having the care of any building or lot or land bordering on any street, square or public place in the city where there is a sidewalk, shall fail, within five hours of daylight, after the ceasing to fall of any snow, to cause the same to be removed from the sidewalk adjoining such building or lot, and in all streets where there is no curbstone set, a pathway at least three feet wide, shall be made on and along the sidewalk aforesaid for the convenience of pedestrians.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
no owner, occupant, or other person having the care of any building or lot or land bordering on any street, square or public place in the city where there is a sidewalk
What it says about ice
Section 9.08.120 gives ice its own shorter clock: no owner, occupant or other person having the care of such building or lot shall fail to cause such sidewalks to be made safe and convenient, by removing the ice therefrom or by covering the same with sand or ashes within four hours during the daytime.
- Width a pathway at least three feet wide, in all streets where there is no curbstone set
- Penalty not to exceed the maximum fine allowable in Newport Municipal Court, under the general code penalty, since section 9.08.110 prints no penalty of its own
- Section Sec. 9.08.110
- Published by Newport Codified Ordinances, Title 9 Public Peace and Welfare, Chapter 9.08 Offenses Against Property
9.08.110 Snow removal and disposal, Newport Codified Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Providence
7h to 12h
within the first eight (8) hours of daylight after the end of any snowfall
All owners or persons having care of any property bordering any street, highway or public place within the city, shall, within the first eight (8) hours of daylight after the end of any snowfall, or the fall or deposit of snow or ice on the sidewalk of said property, from any cause whatsoever:
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
all owners or persons having care of any property bordering any street, highway or public place within the city
What it says about ice
Section 23-16 states that whenever the sidewalk is encumbered with ice, it shall be the duty of the owner, occupant or any person having the care of such building or lot to cause such sidewalk to be made safe and convenient by removing the ice therefrom, or by covering the same with sand or some other suitable substance.
- Width a path not less than three (3) feet in width, including any pedestrian access ramps cut into street curbs, and for corner lots the sidewalk extending past the property to and including the street curb
- Penalty not less than $25.00 nor more than $500.00 for each calendar day, plus a $100.00 administrative penalty if the fine is unpaid after thirty days
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 23-13
- Published by Providence Code of Ordinances, Chapter 23 Streets, Sidewalks and Public Places
Sec. 23-13 Removal of snow and ice, Required, Providence Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Central Falls
7h to 12h
within the first 12 hours of daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow
The owner, occupant or other person having the care of any building or lot of land bordering on any street, highway, square or public place where there is a sidewalk supported by curbing shall, within the first 12 hours of daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow, cause the snow to be removed from the sidewalk adjoining such building or lot of land.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner, occupant or other person having the care of any building or lot of land
What it says about ice
Section 32-9 treats ice separately and on a three hour clock: in case such owner, occupant or other responsible person shall neglect so to do for the space of three hours during the daytime, he shall be punished as provided in section 1-12 and in a like manner for every day thereafter that the sidewalk shall continue to be so encumbered.
- Section Sec. 32-8(a)
- Published by Central Falls Revised Ordinances, Chapter 32 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places
Sec. 32-8 Removal of snow from sidewalks and prohibition on disposal of snow on streets, Central Falls Revised Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
South Kingstown
7h to 12h
within the first twelve (12) hours after any snow has ceased to fall
The owner of any lot of land adjoining a sidewalk shall, within the first twelve (12) hours after any snow has ceased to fall, make the sidewalk safe and convenient for pedestrian traffic by removal of the snow therefrom.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner of any lot of land adjoining a sidewalk
What it says about ice
Section 16-2(b) gives ice its own twelve hour clock: the owner of any lot of land adjoining a sidewalk shall, within the first twelve (12) hours after ice has formed, make the sidewalk safe by covering the ice with sand or other non-corrosive, non-toxic anti-slip agent.
- Penalty a fine not exceeding $500.00 under the town general penalty, which section 16-9 routes violations of chapter 16 to
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 16-2
- Published by South Kingstown Code of Ordinances, Chapter 16 Streets and Sidewalks
Sec. 16-2 Removal of snow and treatment of ice required, South Kingstown Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
East Providence
13h to 24h
within the first 24 hours after any snow has ceased to fall
The owner, occupant or any person having the care of any building or lot of land bordering on any street, highway, square or public place within the city where there is a sidewalk shall, within the first 24 hours after any snow has ceased to fall, remove the snow and ice from said sidewalk.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner, occupant or any person having the care of any building or lot of land
What it says about ice
Ice sits inside the same 24 hour clock: the section reads remove the snow and ice from said sidewalk.
- Penalty a written warning for a first offense, $25.00 for a second offense, and $75.00 for a third and subsequent offenses
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 14-40
- Published by East Providence Revised Ordinances, Chapter 14 Streets and Sidewalks
Sec. 14-40 Removal of snow and ice, East Providence Revised Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Warwick
Over 24h
within the first 72 hours after any snow or ice has ceased to fall, on priority sidewalks only
The owner of any lot of land adjoining or including any priority sidewalk shall, within the first 72 hours after any snow or ice has ceased to fall, and at times other than following snowfall or icefall, within the first 72 hours after any snow or ice has encumbered such priority sidewalk, cause such priority sidewalk to be made safe and convenient for pedestrian traffic by causing the removal of the snow and ice therefrom and/or by covering the same with sand or some other suitable substance.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner of any lot of land adjoining or including any priority sidewalk
What it says about ice
Ice is inside the same 72 hour rule: the priority sidewalk is to be made safe and convenient for pedestrian traffic by causing the removal of the snow and ice therefrom and/or by covering the same with sand or some other suitable substance.
- Penalty a warning for the first offense, $100.00 for the second offense, $175.00 for the third offense, and no less than $250.00 for the fourth and each subsequent offense
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 70-102
- Published by Warwick Code of Ordinances, Chapter 70 Streets and Sidewalks, Article IV Snow and Ice on Sidewalks
Sec. 70-102 Removal of snow required, Warwick Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026

Why one Rhode Island answer does not exist

Newport and Warwick are 67 hours apart

A house on one side of a city line in Rhode Island has five hours and a house on the other has three days, which is the whole reason a state level answer to this question is no answer. 23 states carry a gap like it, the widest being Maine at 68 hours.

Neither city is wrong and neither is unusual. A sidewalk ordinance is written by a council for the street outside its own window, and nothing above it in Rhode Island obliges one council to look at what the next one wrote. The figure that applies to a reader is the one their own city published, which is why every card above carries the city’s name before it carries a number.

A sidewalk cleared earlier in the day with fresh wind blown snow already lying back across the outer half of it, a plowed road to one side and an unbroken snow field to the other — Almost every hour count on these pages runs from the end of the snowfall rather than from its start, which is the one drafting choice the ordinances broadly share. What counts as the end of it, and what a fresh drift across a cleared walk does to the clock, is left to the wording each city chose, and that wording is quoted in full on the state pages. “Snow drifting onto a shoveled sidewalk, Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, 2024-01-20”, Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0

What Rhode Island itself did

The Rhode Island statute, and what it does not do

Rhode Island sets no statewide shovelling deadline. State law only gives town and city councils the power to make their own ordinances about clearing snow and ice from sidewalks, so the clock is set locally.

That is the national pattern rather than a Rhode Island quirk. 13 of the 50 legislatures have a statute that touches sidewalk snow at all, 10 of those do nothing but let a city decide, and not one of them sets a deadline. The clock is a municipal ordinance everywhere in the country.

Permission for a local government to write one

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 24-7-1

Rhode Island General Assembly

has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own

The town council of any town shall have the power to order sidewalks, including curbing of stone or other material, made and laid in and upon the streets and highways of the town, and may make ordinances and regulations relative to the altering or repairing thereof, to the use, maintenance, care, and cleaning of the sidewalks, to removing ice and snow therefrom, to the removal of posts, steps, and other obstructions therein, and to the maintenance and removal of awnings, signs, and other structures projecting over the sidewalks; provided, that the ordinances and regulations shall not be contrary to the laws of this state.

Rhode Island General Assembly, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

What happens if it is not done

A bill or a penalty, depending on the Rhode Island city

Four Rhode Island cities publish a rule letting the city clear the walk and put the cost on the property. That is the commoner enforcement route nationally: 102 of the 187 cities with an ordinance carry one, against 105 that publish a penalty.

Five Rhode Island cities print a penalty beside the rule, four of them as a dollar figure and the rest as the class of offence the ordinance creates. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used.

Both routes are printed on the cards above in the sentence each was read from, because a penalty clause paraphrased is a different statement than the one the city made. Where a city publishes a page for reporting a walk that has not been cleared, that link is on its card too.

How Rhode Island compares

The same question in the other forty nine

150 cities nationally count in hours, and the counts run from no hours at all to 72. 74 land on exactly a day, 57 give twelve hours or less, and 18 give more than a day. A further 22 set a time of day or a depth of snow rather than a count of hours at all.

The bar splits those 150 cities by how long they allow, and the table beneath it orders the states by how tight their tightest city is, which is a different ranking from how much snow a state gets.

3 of 150No hours allowed
23 of 150Six hours or less
31 of 150Within twelve hours
75 of 150Within a day
18 of 150More than a day

Fifty states and 267 cities, read September 23, 2026.
State	What the legislature did	What its cities do	With an ordinance	Tightest city
Missouri	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	ImmediatelySt. Louis
Wyoming	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 3	ImmediatelySheridan
New Mexico	A cross reference	Cities count in hours	1 of 4	ImmediatelySanta Fe
Michigan	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	2hMarquette
Maryland	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	3hAnnapolis
Massachusetts	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	3hBoston
Pennsylvania	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	3hErie
Virginia	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 7	3hRoanoke
Connecticut	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	4hDanbury
Ohio	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	4hAthens
New York	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	4hNew York City
Maine	A city may	Cities count in hours	4 of 8	4hWaterville
Vermont	A city may	Cities count in hours	1 of 6	4hWinooski
Rhode Island	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	5hNewport
Indiana	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	6hWest Lafayette
Nebraska	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	8hFremont
New Jersey	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	8hJersey City
Utah	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	8hPark City
Iowa	Owner duty, no clock	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	10hAmes
Kansas	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	12hSalina
Delaware	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	12hMilford
Washington	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 4	12hSeattle
California	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	1 of 2	12hSouth Lake Tahoe
North Dakota	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	24hBismarck
Wisconsin	The city clears it	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	24hGreen Bay
Colorado	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hAurora
Illinois	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hChampaign
Minnesota	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hDuluth
Montana	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	24hBillings
South Dakota	A city may	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	24hWatertown
Oklahoma	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 7	24hTulsa
West Virginia	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 4	24hMorgantown
Alaska	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 3	24hSeward
Idaho	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 3	24hIdaho Falls
Texas	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 7	24hAmarillo
Arizona	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	1 of 5	24hFlagstaff
Oregon	Nothing at state level	Required, no time named	2 of 3	None published
Arkansas	Nothing at state level	Set by the clock or a depth	1 of 7	None published
Kentucky	Nothing at state level	Set by the clock or a depth	1 of 3	None published
Tennessee	Nothing at state level	Required, no time named	1 of 4	None published
Alabama	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Florida	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Georgia	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Hawaii	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 2	None published
Louisiana	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 6	None published
Mississippi	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Nevada	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
New Hampshire	A city may	No city rule found	0 of 7	None published
North Carolina	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 4	None published
South Carolina	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published

Rhode Island sidewalk snow removal questions

How long do you have to shovel your sidewalk in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. The clock is a city's instead, and six Rhode Island cities count in hours. The tightest is Newport at five hours and the loosest Warwick at three days, a gap of 67 hours inside one state. Nationally the deadlines run from no hours at all to three days across 150 cities, and no state legislature anywhere has put a number on it. Six Rhode Island cities publish a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. The middle of the Rhode Island figures is twelve hours, against a day nationally.

Does Rhode Island have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

Rhode Island sets no statewide shovelling deadline. State law only gives town and city councils the power to make their own ordinances about clearing snow and ice from sidewalks, so the clock is set locally. The section is R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 24-7-1, published by Rhode Island General Assembly. It reads: “The town council of any town shall have the power to order sidewalks, including curbing of stone or other material, made and laid in and upon the streets and highways of the town, and may make ordinances and regulations relative to the altering or repairing thereof, to the use, maintenance, care, and cleaning of the sidewalks, to removing ice and snow therefrom, to the removal of posts, steps, and other obstructions therein, and to the maintenance and removal of awnings, signs, and other structures projecting over the sidewalks; provided, that the ordinances and regulations shall not be contrary to the laws of this state.”

Why do two Rhode Island cities give different deadlines?

A house on one side of a city line in Rhode Island has five hours and a house on the other has three days, which is the whole reason a state level answer to this question is no answer. 23 states carry a gap like it, the widest being Maine at 68 hours. Newport writes: “No owner, occupant, or other person having the care of any building or lot or land bordering on any street, square or public place in the city where there is a sidewalk, shall fail, within five hours of daylight, after the ceasing to fall of any snow, to cause the same to be removed from the sidewalk adjoining such building or lot, and in all streets where there is no curbstone set, a pathway at least three feet wide, shall be made on and along the sidewalk aforesaid for the convenience of pedestrians.”

Will the city clear my sidewalk in Rhode Island?

Four Rhode Island cities publish a rule letting the city clear the walk and put the cost on the property. That is the commoner enforcement route nationally: 102 of the 187 cities with an ordinance carry one, against 105 that publish a penalty. Providence sets it out this way: “Upon the issuance of a violation by the police or public works department, the department of public works may, in its discretion, remove or cause such snow or ice to be removed or treated. The owner shall reimburse the city for the expenses incurred for such removal or treatment, in addition to any fine or administrative penalty imposed hereunder.”

What is the fine for not shovelling a sidewalk in Rhode Island?

Five Rhode Island cities print a penalty beside the rule, four of them as a dollar figure and the rest as the class of offence the ordinance creates. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used. Newport prints not to exceed the maximum fine allowable in Newport Municipal Court, under the general code penalty, since section 9.08.110 prints no penalty of its own: “whoever violates or fails to comply with any such provision shall be fined not to exceed the maximum fine allowable in Newport Municipal Court, plus the costs of prosecution for each offense, or imprisoned not more than thirty (30) days, or be required to perform community service, or any combination thereof.”

Does snow have to be cleared from the sidewalk or the street in Rhode Island?

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

Rhode Island ice damsWhat builds at the eaves while the walk is being cleared, and the conditions that put it there.Rhode Island ground snow loadThe other winter number a city sets and the state usually does not, and who publishes it where.Rhode Island snowpackWhat is actually on the ground this winter, measured daily, against the years behind it.Rhode Island frozen pipesThe other thing a long cold spell does to a building, and the temperatures it starts at.

Rhode Island read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 6 cities above, and R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 24-7-1. Every deadline, width, penalty and duty above links to the document it was published in and is reproduced in that document’s own wording. An hour count on this site is a sorting key derived from a city’s sentence and never a replacement for it. Councils amend ordinances on their own schedule, so the section linked beside a line is what governs on the day. What a particular property owes, and to whom, is a question for the city that published the ordinance.