Highway Patrol Issues 21 Parking Tickets at Yuba River

NEVADA COUNTY — California Highway Patrol officers wrote 21 parking tickets over the weekend at the South Yuba River, but towed nothing. Several vehicles could have been towed, but they were parked so close to the cars in front of and behind them that a tow truck would not have been able to pull them out, officers who worked the weekend told Officer Sean Armacher, the public information officer for the CHP Grass Valley Area.

The enforcement covered two of the most heavily used swimming areas on the river: the Highway 49 crossing north of Nevada City, and Bridgeport on Pleasant Valley Road. The Grass Valley office publicized the weekend in an advisory posted with a collage of photographs of parked vehicles. “Another weekend brought another round of unsafe and illegal parking at the South Yuba River on SR-49 and Bridgeport on Pleasant Valley Road,” the office wrote. “We get it—everyone wants to enjoy the river. But parking in the roadway, blocking traffic, or making it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through isn’t ‘creative parking’…it’s illegal.”

The advisory said officers spent the weekend issuing citations and arranging for vehicles to be towed because they were creating hazards and blocking access, though Armacher said no vehicle was ultimately towed. “Those big red fire engines, ambulances, and tow trucks? They don’t fold up to fit around your vehicle,” the advisory read. It told drivers that when they cannot find a legal space, “the answer isn’t to make your own.”

In practice, the boundary for parking is the white fog line painted along the edge of the pavement. A vehicle touching or crossing that line is parked in the roadway and can be cited, no matter how much of it remains on the shoulder. Highway 49 between Nevada City and the river is a two-lane road with blind curves and a narrow shoulder, and swimmers walk along it carrying gear to reach the water, adding to the importance of keeping an open roadway.

Nevada County is testing an alternative. The county launched a River Shuttle Pilot Program that runs Fridays through Sundays from July 3 through September 6, from 9 AM to 6 PM, carrying riders between the Nevada County Government Center at 950 Maidu Avenue in Nevada City and the Highway 49 bridge crossing. The 14-passenger shuttle departs about every 30 minutes, pausing from noon to 12:30 PM and from 1:30 to 2 PM, and stops at Rainbow Market on the way out and at The Willo on the way back. A ride costs $2 per person, and parking at the government center is free.

The route reaches the Highway 49 crossing only. Bridgeport, the state park headquarters at 17660 Pleasant Valley Road and the site of the historic covered bridge, is not served by the shuttle.

The county announced the pilot on June 11 and tied it directly to the parking problem. “Our Yuba River is majestic, but every weekend during the summer months, we see people walking in the highway to get around hundreds of illegally parked cars and sharing the road with moving vehicles. It creates a real safety hazard and limits emergency access for accidents and fires,” Supervisor Sue Hoek said in the announcement.

The shuttle grew out of the South Yuba River Public Safety Cohort, a partnership of agencies and organizations working on visitor safety, transportation, stewardship, and emergency access along the river. More than 400 people took part in county surveys and outreach in 2025 that shaped the design of the service, and riders are now asked to complete a survey the county will use in deciding whether the shuttle continues past the pilot.

Whether the shuttle has thinned the roadside parking is not a question the Highway Patrol can yet answer. “Unfortunately, we do not keep track of parking citations close enough to determine whether the shuttle has made any impact,” Armacher said.