Bowling Green, KY Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Bowling Green follows the standard Kentucky practice that all official curb markings and signage on public streets - red (no parking / fire lane), yellow (loading zone), green (time-limited parking), white (passenger loading), and blue (accessible parking) - are placed by city staff under MUTCD standards as referenced in Chapter 22 of the Code of Ordinances. Residents and adjacent property owners may not paint, repaint, or alter a public curb; the city has not adopted a permit program for private red-curb requests in front of driveways. Even where curb paint has faded or is unmarked, the underlying state-law no-parking distances apply by default through Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.450 (Stopping, standing, parking, or repairing vehicle on roadway or shoulders of highway), including: no parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, no parking within an intersection or crosswalk, no parking on a sidewalk, and no parking that obstructs the normal movement of traffic. Blocking a fire hydrant is among the most heavily enforced parking violations because of the public-safety risk. To report missing or faded curb markings or sign damage, contact City of Bowling Green Public Works; for active parking enforcement, contact the Bowling Green Police Department non-emergency line or use the city's Report a Problem portal. Unauthorized painting of a public curb is a violation of the city's right-of-way protections and can require restoration at the property owner's expense plus civil penalties.