Somerville, MA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Somerville's Traffic Commission Regulations treat curb color and paint as a form of official traffic control, not decoration. Section 1-4 defines an Official Curb Marking narrowly: it is only that portion of a curbing whose painting has been authorized by the Traffic Commission of the City of Somerville and which also has the written approval of the Massachusetts Highway Department. Any curb paint lacking both approvals carries no legal effect as a parking restriction, loading zone, or fire lane marker. Section 3-5 backs that definition with a prohibition: no person or corporation may place, maintain, or display upon or in view of any street any unofficial device, sign, signal, curb marking, or street marking which purports to be, imitates, or resembles an official traffic device, sign, signal, curb marking, or street marking, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides an official sign or signal from view.

The same section gives the Chief of Police and the Director of Traffic and Parking standing authority to remove any such prohibited marking, or have it removed, without prior notice to whoever painted it. Because the regulations route every official curb marking through Traffic Commission authorization plus state highway sign-off, a property owner or contractor who paints a curb yellow, red, or another restrictive color on their own initiative has created an unofficial marking that carries no enforceable parking meaning and can legally be removed on sight, with no separate hearing required before that removal.