Boulder, CO Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Section 7-6-21(a) of the Boulder Revised Code splits loading zones into two uses. In a passenger loading zone, a vehicle may stop only for the visible loading or unloading of passengers, for whatever period a traffic control sign posts. In any other loading zone, a vehicle may stop for the visible unloading and delivery, or pick-up and loading, of property for up to thirty minutes, or a shorter time if signed, and for loading or unloading passengers there for up to three minutes, or a shorter posted time.

Subsection (b) defines where loading zones exist without a sign at all: every alley within a district zoned BT, Business Transitional, BC, Business Community, BR, Business Regional, or I, Industrial, is automatically a loading zone, while on every other street a loading zone exists only where a traffic control sign marks it. The section works alongside the off-street loading standard in Section 9-9-9 of the city's land use code, which requires any use with off-street parking to also provide an off-street delivery or loading space sized to serve that use, screened per the landscaping standards in Section 9-9-12(d)(5), unless the city manager waives the requirement on a finding that the building doesn't need one and pedestrian, motorist, and bicyclist safety won't suffer.