Can you park and block an Illinois sidewalk? See the rules on prohibited parking

Meredith Howard
·3 min read

If you’ve ever struggled to find a parking space, especially when trying to navigate a big local event like the Belleville Chili Cook-off or Art on the Square, you may have wondered whether it’s OK to squeeze in and block a sidewalk or crosswalk.

Illinois state law addresses parking regulations, and Belleville also has relevant provisions in its city code. Here’s what to know.

Illinois and Belleville parking regulations

Illinois state law prohibits stopping or parking a vehicle on a sidewalk or crosswalk “except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with law or the directions of a police officer or official traffic-control device.”

With the same caveat, drivers are also not allowed to stop or park within an intersection, “on the roadway side of any vehicle stopped or parked at the edge of a curb or street,” on a bridge, railroad track, any place where official signs prohibit stopping, on any controlled-access highway and more.

Motorists in the state are also prohibited from parking in front of a public or private driveway except when momentarily stopping to pick up or drop off a passenger.

Another situation that commonly arises is when a driver parks behind another car in their driveway, partially or fully obscuring the sidewalk . It’s not immediately clear whether Illinois state law specifically addresses this issue, but statutes do generally prohibit parking on sidewalks.

Illinois law also says people who do not have valid registration plates or decals specified for people with disabilities may not park in spaces or in access aisles adjacent to parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities.

Belleville city code provides its own specific regulations, including prohibiting parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk or intersection.

Drivers may not park on any of the following, according to the local ordinance:

  • In an intersection

  • In a crosswalk

  • On a bridge, viaduct, in any subway or tunnel

  • Within 30 feet of traffic signal, beacon or sign on the approach side

  • Within 20 feet of any intersection or crosswalk

  • Any place reducing roadway to usable width of fewer than than 18 feet

  • Within 15 feet of fire hydrant

  • Within 6 feet of a driveway

  • Within 50 feet of nearest rail or railroad crossing grade

  • Within 20 feet of the driveway entrance to any fire department station and on the side of the street opposite the entrance to any such station within 75 feet of such entrance, when properly signposted or where curb is painted yellow; except that parking shall be permitted within 25 feet of fire house on the east side of 12th Street

  • On sidewalk or parkway

  • At any place where official signs prohibit parking or where the curb is painted yellow

  • Fire lane

  • At any city-owned premises, in residential districts including multi-family districts, unless permitted by ordinance

  • Within 25 feet in either direction of the police department’s speed monitor trailer, or

  • On any roadway prohibited by order of the chief of police, the city code says.

The Belleville Police Department has not reported any citations specifically for parking on a sidewalk since at least 2022.

If you have followed local parking regulations and are still ticketed, you can appeal the citation by requesting an administrative hearing within 10 days in writing to the chief of police, according to Belleville city code.