Mountain View, CA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Who may paint curbs
- Only the city traffic engineer
- Includes
- Painting numbers on street or curb
- Red curb meaning
- No stopping/standing/parking, ever
- Yellow curb meaning
- Loading only, 7am-6pm, 3-20 min
- First-offense fine
- Up to $100 (Sec. 1.7)
Summary
Only Mountain View's city traffic engineer may authorize painting a street or curb surface, including stenciling numbers on it. City Code Sec. 19.34(g) makes unauthorized curb or street painting a flat prohibition, backing up the traffic engineer's separate authority to mark curbs red, yellow, white or green for parking control.
g.No person, unless authorized by the city traffic engineer, shall paint any street or curb surface, including the painting of numbers thereon.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 34 Update 4).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 34 gives the city traffic engineer the power to install and maintain official traffic-control devices, including the curb markings that tell drivers where they can stop, stand or load. Subsection (g) closes the loop with a flat prohibition on anyone else touching that paint: no person may paint any street or curb surface, including painting numbers on it, without the traffic engineer's authorization. That means a resident or business cannot legally repaint a faded curb, mark a private space with a painted number, or apply color-coded curb paint on their own, even if the intent matches the city's own scheme.
The traffic engineer's own curb-color system is set out separately at Sec. window. Because Sec. 34(g) reserves the paint brush to the traffic engineer, altering or adding to any of those markings without authorization is what triggers enforcement, not the color scheme itself.
Violations & Fines
Unauthorized street or curb painting is enforced under the citywide penalty scale in Sec. 1.7: a first violation is an infraction fined up to $100, a second within a year up to $200, and a third within that year up to $500, with a fourth violation in the same twelve months chargeable as a misdemeanor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I paint my own curb red in Mountain View to stop people parking there?
What do the curb colors mean in Mountain View?
Who enforces unauthorized curb painting in Mountain View?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mountain View
California rules heatmap·Compare Mountain View to another location·View the California parking rules overview
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Curb Color Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Santa Clara County handle curb color rules.