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

Seattle Municipal Code 11.14.140 is the dictionary for painted curbs. It defines curb markings as the official markings installed on curbs and gives four colors a legal meaning. Red is a tow-away zone. Red-yellow-red, shown as alternating red and yellow stripes, is a bus zone. Yellow is a truck loading zone, a load and unload zone, a taxicab stand, or a no-parking zone adjacent to driveways or alleys. White is a passenger load zone. Because SMC 11.14.650 lists curb markings among the traffic-control devices, paint on a curb carries the same force as a posted sign.

Red is the only color with its own outright ban. SMC 11.72.410 says no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle within any space signed or marked as a tow-away zone, and that violators will be impounded. SMC 11.14.640 defines the zone as a portion of a street or alley that is signed or marked as a tow-away zone. Under SMC 11.30.010, impoundment means removal of a vehicle to a storage facility by a Seattle Police Department officer or authorized agent, or by the towing contractor the department calls. SMC 11.30.040 allows removal without prior notice from a zone that has carried signage for at least 24 hours warning that illegally parked vehicles will be removed, when the vehicle is interfering with the proper and intended use of the zone.

Red-yellow-red curbs belong to transit. SMC 11.72.050 reserves a bus zone for authorized transit agency buses and for shuttle vehicles displaying a valid shuttle vehicle loading permit, and says violators can be impounded without prior notice.

Yellow splits into separate rules depending on what the zone is. In a truck load zone, a commercial vehicle can stop only for expeditious unloading and delivery or pickup and loading, and never for more than thirty minutes (SMC 11.74.020). Passenger vehicles, including truck-licensed taxicabs, are barred from truck load zones (SMC 11.72.435), and those restrictions do not apply on Sundays or parking holidays unless the signs say otherwise. A load and unload zone is open to any vehicle picking up or dropping off persons or property, with the same thirty-minute cap (SMC 11.72.215). Beside driveways, SMC 11.72.110 bars standing or parking in front of a public or private driveway or alley entrance, or within five feet of the end of a constructed driveway return. SMC 11.72.120 lets the property owner or occupant maintain that prohibited area with traffic yellow paint.

White is the shortest limit in the system. In a passenger load zone, during the hours the restriction is in effect, a vehicle can stop only to load or unload passengers, for no more than three minutes (SMC 11.72.285). Cross-hatched pavement markings, or other pavement markings indicating no standing or parking, are enforced separately under SMC 11.72.290.