Bozeman, MT Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 36.03.320 of the Bozeman Municipal Code makes it unlawful to ride a skateboard, rollerblades, roller skates or other similar devices, or to operate any coaster, toy vehicle or radio controlled vehicle, on any sidewalk or roadway in the downtown business district. Subsection C defines that district as the streets, avenues and sidewalks fronting Mendenhall, Main and Babcock, including avenues running north and south between Third and Broadway. Subsection B separately bans the same devices anywhere within the city limits in any city-owned parking garage, parking lot, facility or structure.

Outside those areas, skateboards are treated as vehicles. A rider on a roadway must stay as near to the right side as practicable, except to avoid a fixed or moving object, parked or moving vehicle, pedestrian, animal, surface hazard or a lane too narrow to share, and can ride as close to the left side as practicable on a one-way highway with two or more marked lanes. During hours of darkness, as defined in chapter 9, title 61, Montana Code Annotated, the rider must use protective visibility gear that makes the rider clearly visible. Skateboarders have the rights and duties of any other driver under the Montana chapters the section cites. The section does not apply on a street set aside as a play street or at a skateboard facility approved under section 26.02.090.

Parks add their own rules. Section 26.02.130 forbids placing or using a ramp, jump or other device that forces a skateboard, skate, bike or similar wheeled device off the pavement on the grounds of any city-owned parking lot, park or sidewalk, and lets the City Commission designate park areas for wheeled devices by resolution during specified times. Section 26.02.140 keeps bicycles, scooters and motorized vehicles out of city skateboard facilities, closes the facilities during inclement weather and bans food and drink on the skating surface.