Do you need a permit for a driveway?

• A state highway. The state transportation department issues the permit for a driveway onto a state highway. The table below names each state's permit.
• A city or county street. For a driveway onto a city or county street, check with the city or county.
• The District of Columbia. Any driveway work in public space needs a DDOT public space permit.¹
• New Hampshire town roads. On a town road, a town whose planning board regulates streets issues driveway permits under its own rules.²

Replacing a driveway can need a permit too, not only building a new one. In Troy, Michigan, for example, replacing more than 50 square feet of a sidewalk or driveway approach needs a permit.³ Missouri's DOT asks for one to change an existing driveway's width, grade, location or surface type on its roads.⁴

The apron is the part of the driveway between the street and your property line, and a curb cut is the opening in the curb. Both are usually in the public right-of-way, so the city, county or state that owns the street decides how they're built. In DC, a DDOT public space permit covers a residential driveway and its curb cut, and a second permit covers the work zone.¹ In Chicago, a residential driveway permit is taken out once for as long as you own the home, with no yearly fee.⁵

Cost guides put a driveway permit at $50 to $200 where one's needed.^6-7 City and state fees differ a lot, and some add an inspection fee or a deposit, so ask the office that issues yours.

A single driveway rarely reaches the federal construction stormwater permit, which starts at 1 acre of disturbed ground.⁸ A few states have rules that can reach one, mostly on lots near lakes, rivers or the coast:

• California and Nevada, in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency regulates land coverage, which counts driveways.⁹
• Delaware. An approved sediment and stormwater plan applies at 5,000 square feet of disturbed ground.^10-11
• Maine. In a shoreland zone, the state's minimum rule caps non-vegetated surfaces, driveways included, at 20% of the part of a lot inside the zone in most districts.¹²
• Maryland. In the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area, lot coverage in the limited development and resource conservation areas is capped at 15% of a lot, or 25% for lots of half an acre or less that existed before the Critical Area began.¹³ Statewide, an erosion and sediment control plan applies at 5,000 square feet of disturbed ground.¹⁴
• Michigan. A soil erosion permit is generally needed for an earth change within 500 feet of a lake or stream, or of 1 acre or more.¹⁵
• Minnesota. Local shoreland ordinances cap impervious surface at 25% of a lot.¹⁶
• New Hampshire. In the protected shoreland, a lot over 20% impervious needs a system to soak up stormwater.¹⁷
• New Jersey. The state stormwater rule applies to major development, which includes a quarter acre of new impervious or vehicle surface.¹⁸
• Pennsylvania. A written erosion and sediment control plan is needed for 5,000 square feet or more of earth disturbance.¹⁹
• Vermont. In protected shoreland, impervious surface is capped at 20% of the shoreland part of a parcel unless the extra runoff is treated.²⁰
• Virginia. A state erosion and stormwater plan applies at 10,000 square feet of disturbed ground, or 2,500 in Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, and localities can set lower limits.²¹
• Wisconsin. County shoreland ordinances apply impervious surface limits to new or replaced paving within 300 feet of a lake or river on waterfront lots.²²

Elsewhere, any rule on paved area is local. Ask your city or county.

Each company on this site is listed with its phone number where it has one, so you can ask who'll pull the permit when you call. You can also send a request through the request form.