Raleigh, NC Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 11-2154 prohibits standing, sitting, or loitering in the right-of-way of any Raleigh street, including on any median or median strip, when it impedes the normal movement of traffic. The rule exempts Department of Transportation and other City or government employees and contractors performing construction, maintenance, engineering surveys, or other official duties in the right-of-way, a carve-out that matters because it distinguishes ordinary loitering from lawful roadside work. The City tightened this further with Ord. No. " That section bars standing, sitting, lying, or loitering on any median or median strip for any purpose other than crossing the roadway wherever the median is narrower than six feet at any point, or has been identified and posted by the City or any other governmental entity as a High-Incident Risk Intersection.

Unlike § 11-2154's civil framing under Article J-style traffic penalties, § 11-2155 explicitly makes violation a misdemeanor, and also allows enforcement through a civil penalty under § 14-1005, injunctive relief, or a combination of remedies, giving police and the City Attorney's office three separate enforcement paths for the same conduct. Both sections sit in Article I, "Pedestrians' Rights and Duties," immediately after the electronic signal and pedestrian-crossing sections, underscoring that the target is street-median and right-of-way panhandling and flagging activity rather than sidewalk loitering generally.