Lafayette, LA Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Section 86-125 sets the baseline for legal on-street parking: no person shall stand or park a vehicle on a street other than parallel with the edge of the street headed in the direction of lawful traffic movement, Lafayette's wrong-way-parking rule, meaning a car parked facing oncoming traffic on its side of the street violates the section even if angled correctly against the curb. The same section fixes how close a car must sit to the curb: the wheels nearest the curb must be within 18 inches of the curb or street edge, except where angular parking is signed or marked.

Section 86-132 lists sixteen additional places where stopping or parking is banned outright, without any sign required, including item (2): in front of or within three feet of the curb return radius point of a public or private driveway, wheelchair ramp, cycle ramp, or loading ramp. That is Lafayette's driveway-blocking rule, it protects not just the driveway opening itself but a three-foot buffer around the curb-return curve leading into it. Other 86-132 no-parking zones include sidewalks, intersections, crosswalks, and within 20 feet of a crosswalk, stop sign, or signal.

A vehicle violating either section is subject to a civil parking notice rather than a criminal charge, contestable through the administrative hearing process described in Article IX, Division 3, of the traffic chapter.