Downey, CA Mobility & Curb Rules: Bike Lane Rules (2026)

Municipal Code Section 3163 sets Downey's core bicycle riding rules. Subsection (a) bars bicycle riding on any sidewalk within the Central Business District defined in Section 3108, and on any other city sidewalk posted with signs prohibiting bicycle riding; where riding on a sidewalk is otherwise allowed, the rider must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, obey the rules of the road and all traffic control devices, and ride at a speed safe for existing conditions. Subsection (b) prohibits riding a bicycle to cross a roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk, requiring cyclists to dismount and walk the bike across instead.

Subsection (c) extends the sidewalk-posting rule to pedestrian bridges: no rider may use a pedestrian bridge posted against bicycle riding. Subsection (d) lets the city post no-bicycle-parking signs at specific locations, and locking a bike there violates the section. Subsection (e) goes further for motorized bicycles: they may never be ridden on any public sidewalk in the city, regardless of posted signage, unlike the conditional standard for ordinary pedal bicycles. These riding rules sit in Part 8, Miscellaneous Driving Rules, of the traffic chapter enacted by Ordinance 18-1402, and apply citywide rather than only near schools or downtown.