Lafayette, IN Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Lafayette Municipal Code § 7.01.010 sets the definitions for Title 7, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, and two of them describe painted curbs rather than just signage. A "curb loading zone" is a space next to a curb painted yellow and posted "Loading Zone," reserved for the exclusive use of a vehicle while it is actually loading or unloading passengers or material. A "passenger bus curb loading zone" is the same yellow-curb treatment but posted "Bus Zone" and reserved for passenger buses only. The Parking Commission designates where these zones sit; downtown, § 7.06.290(E) directs the Commission to reserve a loading zone within one block of any business that lacks its own off-street loading or an alley.

Vehicles using a curb loading zone still answer to the general stopping-and-standing rules in Chapter 7.06, including the ban on parking on the roadway side of another vehicle loading at the curb. Enforcement runs through the Ordinance Violations Bureau: Lafayette police officers, the Parking Operations Supervisor and Parking Enforcement Technicians can all issue tickets for parking against a posted curb zone's restrictions. A vehicle parked in a marked loading or bus zone against its posted use, or otherwise contrary to a curb marking, is cited under § 7.06.990(A)(3).

Unpaid tickets escalate automatically: a $20 fine grows to $50 after 30 days and to $100 after 60 days under § 7.06.990(B)(1). Anyone contesting a ticket has 14 days to appeal to Parking Operations, and 10 more days to take a denial to the Parking Commission, with escalation frozen while the appeal is pending.