Columbus, IN Parking Rules: Overnight Parking (2026)

Section 10.28.210(A) of the Columbus Municipal Code makes it unlawful to park, position or place, or to have parked, positioned or placed, any vehicle on or along Washington Street between 1st and 8th Streets between three a.m. and six a.m. Monday through Friday. The text reaches any vehicle, whatever the number of wheels or axles and however propelled or moved, so cars, trucks and trailers all count. The window is a weekday overnight band, and the section prints no weekend restriction for Washington Street.

This is a corridor rule set by the Common Council, not a citywide overnight ban. The only other time-of-day restriction in the same section, in subsection B, is on Forest Drive between Maple Street and the entrance to the Twenty-fifth Street Shopping Center, from seven a.m. until four p.m., and it does not apply on weekends, official holidays and other days that are not regular school days. Section 10.28.230 adds school-hour parking limits near Schmitt School, including no parking on the south side of Twenty-seventh Street from Home Avenue to Maple Street between seven a.m. and four p.m. Monday through Friday.

Enforcement is by tow. Subsection C says a vehicle in violation shall be towed away at the expense of either the legal or beneficial owner. Subsection D charges the city police department and its duly authorized employees with enforcement, authorizes them to tow, and lets them levy and collect the monetary expenses or charges they incur. Subsection E gives the motor vehicle and highway department the job of posting legible signs along the east and west sides of Washington Street.

Section 10.28.350 requires the city traffic engineer to erect signs for any parking time limit or prohibition, and says no such regulation is effective unless the signs are in place at the time of the alleged offense. Section 10.28.330 excuses parking made necessary by mechanical trouble, traffic conditions, accident, or obedience to a police officer.