Albuquerque, NM Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

15). " The sidewalk ban is narrower than it first looks: it only kicks in inside a "business district," a term § 8-1-1-2 defines as the stretch of roadway where, within any 300 feet, buildings used for business or industrial purposes, including hotels, banks, office buildings, or public buildings, occupy at least half the combined street frontage on both sides. Outside that footprint, the sidewalk ban under this section does not apply, though a rider still has to contend with the separate obstruction and due-care rules that apply to sidewalk users generally.

The section also bars skateboards, coasters, and roller skates from every street, bicycle lane, and bicycle path in the city, not just business-district streets. The single carve-out covers a pedal-powered, human-propelled two-wheeled toy with a front or rear wheel of 16 inches or more in diameter and no side training wheels; that device may use a bicycle lane or path even though the general rule reads it out. Skateboards themselves get no such carve-out for bike lanes. The rule is separate from § 8-3-3-15, which lets cyclists, e-bike, and micromobility riders use sidewalks outside a business district under specific slow-and-yield conditions; skateboards are not covered by that section and have no comparable sidewalk allowance.