Tuscaloosa, AL Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

Section 22-92 of the Tuscaloosa City Code defines a heavy truck as any tractor-trailer, truck-trailer, trailer, road-trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, or motor vehicle with three or more axles, expressly excluding boat trailers and utility trailers (vehicles designed to be towed by a passenger car or pickup, including luggage and folding camper trailers). The residential-district definition tracks the zoning ordinance and reaches every single-family category (CN, SFR-E, SFR-1 through SFR-5, LR), mixed-residential (MR-1, MR-2), multi-family (LMF, MRU, MFRU, MFR), and mobile-home residential (MHR) districts, plus any future zone the city designates residential.

The ban is blunt: it is unlawful for any person to stop, park, or stand a heavy truck in any of those districts, with no minimum duration required to trigger a violation. Three narrow exceptions apply: expeditiously loading or unloading passengers, freight, or merchandise; street construction, maintenance, and repair equipment; and trucks, trailers, and equipment actively engaged in repairing or extending public utilities. Outside those activities, a tractor-trailer parked overnight in a residential driveway or on a residential street violates the section regardless of how briefly it sits there.

A related provision, Sec. 22-88, separately caps semitrailer truck parking on any public street or alley citywide at one hour, but that rule is not confined to residential districts. Section 22-92 was most recently amended by Ord. No. 9590, Sec. 12, adopted February 11, 2025, and originally enacted by Ord. No. 3327, Sec. 1, on November 19, 1991.