Chesapeake, VA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Sec. 66-17, adopted in 2017, targets people standing, sitting, squatting or lying within or between vehicle travel lanes on the city's busiest and fastest roads, the kind of roadway median often used for panhandling or informal roadside activity. The prohibition only kicks in on public rights-of-way that either carry four or more traffic lanes, counting lanes split by a median or barrier, or carry a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour or higher; narrower, slower streets are not covered. Subsection (b) carves out six categories that are exempt regardless of the roadway: pedestrians who are legally crossing the street, emergency personnel and city, state or federal employees and contractors performing their duties, supervised inmates doing mowing or ditch maintenance, city volunteers working under the Street Sweeper, Adopt a Garden or Adopt a Spot programs, anyone acting within the scope of a permit approved under chapter 66 or Sec.

74-21, and emergency situations generally. The section defines a median as a physical barrier or unpaved area dividing two or more travel lanes, a public right-of-way as city-maintained property for vehicular traffic including the roadway, medians, shoulders, curb and gutter and five feet from the pavement edge, but excluding sidewalks and pedestrian trails, and a traffic lane as the portion of roadway designed for a single line of moving vehicles, including turn lanes and exit ramps. A violation is a traffic infraction, not a criminal misdemeanor, capped at a $100 fine per violation, rising to $200 for a third or subsequent conviction under the article, and courts may substitute community service for the fine.