Dearborn County, IN Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

The sidewalk and right-of-way rule sits in § 70.05(C) of the Dearborn County Code, part of the Board of Commissioners' ordinance on obstructions on county road rights-of-way. It runs against any person, firm, corporation, or other legal entity in charge of, in control of, or in ownership of an obstruction. None of them can cause, allow, or permit the obstruction to block or restrict in any manner an access, driveway, easement, intersection, egress, ingress, or sidewalk, or to interfere with a county right-of-way.

The same sentence stops obstructions from impeding any government employee in the course of their regular duties. It also covers the shoulder and roadside: the obstruction cannot be left in the non-trafficked portions of county rights-of-way for any length of time. Section 70.05(B) handles the trafficked portions in a parallel prohibition, so the two subsections together leave no part of a county right-of-way available for storage.

What counts as an obstruction comes from § 70.05(A). It is any waste which, if not properly disposed of, creates a danger to public health, safety, and/or welfare, impairs the ability of Dearborn County employees to perform their job functions, and/or impairs the environment of the people of the county. The list includes vehicles, trailers, watercraft, garbage, trash, refuse, debris, brush, tree trimmings, grass clippings or other lawn or garden waste, paper products, glass, metal, plastic or paper containers, motor vehicle parts including tires, furniture, posts, railroad ties, concrete blocks, brick or stone walls, and carcasses of dead animals, along with any other waste material of an unsightly, unsanitary, nauseous, dangerous, and/or offensive nature.

In practice a pile of brush dragged to the road edge, a stack of concrete blocks at a driveway mouth, or a trailer parked across an easement all fall within the wording. Section 70.05(D) exempts police, postal, fire, EMS, and other governmental employees when in the course of their regular duties. The section applies to county rights-of-way, not to sidewalks inside Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Greendale, or the other incorporated towns.