Iowa City, IA Public Conduct: Jaywalking (2026)

Section 9-6-2(A) of the Iowa City Code sets three layered rules for jaywalking. First, any pedestrian who crosses a roadway at a point other than a marked crosswalk, an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, or a designated overhead pedestrian crossing must yield the right of way to every vehicle on the roadway, unless the city has separately restricted that crossing by ordinance; this is a general yield duty rather than an outright ban in most of the city. Second, where traffic control signals operate at a marked crosswalk that is not at an intersection, pedestrians are confined to the marked crosswalk and cannot cross elsewhere along that block.

Third, and most strictly, subsection A(3) flatly prohibits crossing a roadway in any commercial zone anywhere other than in a crosswalk, no yielding exception applies there. Section 9-6-2(B) separately requires that where no crosswalk or traffic control device governs, a pedestrian must cross at right angles to the curb, by the shortest route to the opposite curb, rather than diagonally or at an angle that increases exposure to traffic. These provisions trace to 1978 Code sections 23-213 through 23-215 and were carried forward with amendments in the 1994 recodification. 1(1)(a), or it can be charged as a municipal infraction carrying a civil penalty.