Tempe, AZ Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Article X of Chapter 19 (Movement and Traffic), the general code's stopping-for-loading-and-unloading rules, gives the City Traffic Engineer authority under Section 19-121(a) to mark a curb loading zone by use of signs, or painted curbs, or both. Once a zone is posted, Section 19-122 controls how it can be used: no one may stop, stand or park a vehicle for any purpose or length of time other than for the expeditious unloading and delivery or pickup and loading of materials or passengers, and the stop cannot run past 30 minutes even for legitimate loading, during hours when the provisions applicable to such zones are in effect, meaning the restriction applies only at the times posted on the zone's sign.

A separate, shorter carve-out lets a vehicle displaying the international symbol of access, current disability plates, or a valid state placard stand in a curb loading zone for up to 15 minutes while loading or unloading a passenger, a cross-reference the code ties back to the handicapped-parking provisions of Section 19-94. Outside the posted loading window, or for any purpose other than active loading or unloading, standard parking prohibitions for that stretch of curb apply instead. Both sections trace to Ordinance No. 45 of July 10, 1986, with the 15-minute passenger carve-out added by Ordinance No. 22 in August 2019.