Memphis, TN Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

Sec. 11-40-11 of the Memphis Code, most recently amended by Ord. No. 5002 in 2003, is the city's residential-street commercial-vehicle rule, and subsection B is its truck-and-bus clause. It prohibits parking or leaving unattended "any public street located within a residential district and/or zone, as defined in the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code" for trucks, truck trailers, tractors and buses, but the ordinance carves out an explicit exception for pickup trucks with two axles, passenger vans and sport utility vehicles, so ordinary personal trucks and SUVs are not swept in.

The only lawful reasons a covered commercial vehicle can sit on a residential street are while it is actively being loaded or unloaded, or while it is being used for work or service on the adjacent property, a contractor's flatbed making a delivery, for instance, is not in violation while the load is moving. Subsection D gives the division of police services authority to remove a violating vehicle when it constitutes a traffic hazard or obstruction, following the impoundment procedure at Sec. 11-40-26. Subsection E makes any violation a misdemeanor punishable under the general penalty section, 1-24-1, and creates a presumption that the registered owner, as shown on Tennessee Department of Safety records, was driving or authorized the parking, shifting the burden to the owner to rebut it. The citation schedule at Sec. 11-8-5 lists Sec. 00 civil forfeiture.