Columbus, IN Parking Rules: Snow Removal Parking Rules (2026)

Chapter 10.40 of the Columbus Municipal Code handles temporary tow-away zones, and § 10.40.060 attaches snow emergencies to them. The city traffic engineer is authorized to establish and mark with legible signs snow emergency routes on California and Chestnut Streets between Third and Twenty-Fifth Streets, Eleventh Street between Washington and Grand Avenue, Tenth Street between Grand and Central Avenue, Sixteenth Street between Washington and Orinoco Streets, Orinoco Street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets, and Seventeenth Street between Chestnut and Central Avenue. The Mayor is authorized to declare a snow emergency when circumstances so warrant, and on that declaration §§ 10.40.030 through 10.40.050 become immediately effective.

The companion sections supply the rules. Section 10.40.010 authorizes the street and sanitation commissioner to declare temporary tow-away zones on city streets and rights-of-way for efficient and unobstructed sweeping of streets, removal of snow and resurfacing of streets. Section 10.40.020 requires notice to the public news media at least twenty-four hours in advance, and legible signs posted by the city traffic department along affected streets at least twenty-four hours in advance.

Section 10.40.030 makes it unlawful to park, position or place any vehicle within a marked tow-away zone during its effective time, and a licensed or nonlicensed vehicle found there can be towed and removed. Section 10.40.040 charges the police department and its authorized employees with enforcement. Section 10.40.050 lets the owner recover a towed vehicle by paying all fees or expenses incurred by reason of its removal from the temporary tow-away zone.

The chapter prints no dollar fine, so the stated consequence of a violation is tow-away plus the fees and expenses of removal. Sidewalks carry their own snow duty in the downtown core: § 12.12.020 requires the landowner next to a sidewalk in the downtown streetscape district to remove snow, ice, other debris or natural obstructions.