Council Bluffs, IA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

CBMC 9.20.080 layers two separate mid-block crossing bans on top of the general right-of-way rule in CBMC 9.20.010. First, between any two adjacent intersections where traffic control signals are operating, a pedestrian may not cross the roadway anywhere except in a marked crosswalk. Second, the section names thirteen specific streets and street segments where crosswalk-only crossing applies regardless of whether the intersections are signalized: the entire lengths of Broadway, Washington Avenue, Vine Street, Mynster Street, Pearl Street, Fifth Avenue, and Willow Avenue, plus First Avenue from 4th to 8th Streets, Main Street from Washington Avenue to 6th Avenue, Sixteenth Avenue from Main to 10th Streets, Scott Street from Broadway to Washington Avenue, Fourth Street from Broadway to 9th Avenue, and Bryant Street from Washington Avenue to Broadway.

That list covers most of downtown Council Bluffs. CBMC 9.20.010 separately requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in a marked or unmarked crosswalk and bars passing a vehicle that has stopped for a crossing pedestrian, while CBMC 9.20.040 excuses a pedestrian who is blind or forced into the roadway by an emergency, fire, flood, or explosion from punishment. Both the 1954-era street list, added by Ordinance 3428, and the general crosswalk rule remain in force, enforced through CBMC 9.20.090's misdemeanor penalty tied to CBMC 8.02.020, with the city attorney able to charge a violation instead as a municipal infraction under CBMC 1.95.