Berkeley, CA Environmental Rules: Vehicle Idling Restrictions (2026)

060 governs diagonal parking on streets the City Council has designated by resolution. Subsection A sets the parking geometry: vehicles must sit at the angle shown by signs or pavement markings, bumper within 12 inches of the curb, or within 12 inches of the bike lane's dividing line where a bike lane runs between the diagonal spaces and the curb. Subsection B then adds the idling cap: on any portion of a street where a traffic control device indicates back-in diagonal parking specifically, a vehicle may not idle for more than sixty seconds, limiting the time a driver spends maneuvering into the reversed space with the engine running.

Subsection C limits vehicle size in those same zones to twenty feet in length and eight feet in width, including any cargo or load. None of these provisions apply outside a diagonal parking zone; the code has no equivalent citywide idling limit for cars waiting at a curb, queued at a school pickup line, or stopped at a loading dock. 050, which the diagonal-parking section cross-references for that exception.