Kirkland, WA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

KMC 12.45.220 governs Kirkland's curb-color and sign-based no-parking zones. The section's lead-in makes it a civil infraction, with an exception for marked city vehicles on city business, to park or stand where signs or pavement marking prohibits parking or standing. It then defines three specific violations: a red curb means no parking at any time; a yellow curb means no parking because of a designated use such as a fire lane or delivery lane; and a bus stop, which may be marked either with red-and-yellow curb paint or with a sign, carries its own no-parking buffer, since if the stop is marked only by a sign rather than paint, parking is banned within 75 feet of that sign.

A second category in the same section covers restricted parking areas designated under KMC 12.45.020, which apply on all days except Sundays and city-designated holidays when Kirkland offices are closed.

Bus stops are elaborated further in KMC Chapter 12.48: KMC 12.48.020 makes it unlawful to park or stand in a bus-stop zone, with an exception for Metro Transit or Sound Transit vehicles themselves, and KMC 12.48.030 requires that any area designated as a bus stop under the 12.45.220 procedure be signed Bus Stop, Tow Away Violator Vehicles. KMC 12.48.040 declares any vehicle left unattended in a bus stop zone an obstruction to traffic and a public nuisance, subject to summary abatement by removal and impoundment under the standard KMC 12.40.020 procedure, without requiring the 24-hour tagging wait that applies to oversized-vehicle violations.