Decatur, AL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Section 22-78 of the Decatur City Code has two prongs. The first is a flat ban on leaving any automobile or other vehicle of any type standing on any sidewalk in the city. The second targets loading: it is unlawful to obstruct the free passage along any sidewalk or street while loading or unloading any automobile, truck or other vehicle of any type. A delivery driver who blocks a sidewalk to unload is therefore covered even when the stop is short.

Related sections tighten the rule in specific settings. Section 22-68 declares that a vehicle left on any public street or sidewalk for more than three days is an offense and a public nuisance, and shortens the time to twenty-four hours for a damaged, wrecked, unlicensed or inoperable vehicle. Section 22-73 makes it unlawful to stop or park any vehicle or to place any obstruction in a bus stop, with limited exceptions for permitted bus operators and taxicabs picking up or discharging passengers. Section 22-83(c) bars displaying a vehicle for sale on the public right-of-way or other public property and allows a violating vehicle to be towed away, impounded and stored until redeemed at the owner's expense.

Sight lines get their own protection in the zoning chapter. Section 25-20 provides that in a residence or local business district no fence, wall, shrubbery, sign, marquee, or other obstruction to vision between the heights of three and one-half feet and fifteen feet above street level is permitted within twenty feet of the intersection of the right-of-way lines of two streets or railroads, or of a street and a railroad right-of-way line.

The Decatur Police Department handles vehicle obstructions. Under § 22-70 an officer can have a vehicle left on a sidewalk removed to storage, and the owner pays the cost of removal, storage and handling before the vehicle is released.