Charleston, SC Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

Sec. 19-237 sets a flat rule that applies to any street in the city, not just residential blocks: no truck, bus, or other vehicle longer than 20 feet overall may stop, stand or park at any point on a city street for more than one hour. The only exception is for the time actually necessary to pick up or drop off passengers, or to load or unload materials, at which point the vehicle may remain as long as that activity reasonably takes. For measurement purposes, a tractor unit and its attached trailer count as one vehicle rather than two, so a standard semi combination is judged by its combined overall length.

The rule sits alongside a separate route restriction in Sec. 19-368, which makes it unlawful for a truck or commercial vehicle over 20 feet engaged in a commercial delivery or pickup to use a street posted "No Trucks Except Local Delivery," unless the operator is actually delivering to a location on that restricted street and can show there's no alternative route available. Together the two sections limit both how long an oversized vehicle can sit on any city street and which streets it can use for through travel while making deliveries, giving Charleston's narrow historic streets two layers of protection from long-term truck parking and cut-through truck traffic.