Durham County, NC Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Durham County Code Sec. § 20-162. Rather than write its own distances, the county incorporates the state's numbers directly. S. 20-162(a) bars parking on a highway in front of a private driveway, within 15 feet in either direction of a fire hydrant or a fire station entrance, and within 25 feet of an intersection of curb lines, or 15 feet of intersecting property lines where no curb exists; local governments may shorten, but not lengthen, the hydrant buffer by their own ordinance. Subsection (b) separately bars parking in any area, public or private, that is designated and marked as a fire lane, including shopping-center lots.

Because Durham County has no municipal police department for the unincorporated area, day-to-day enforcement runs through the Durham County Sheriff's Office for general traffic stops and through the county fire marshal's office for fire-lane and hydrant obstructions tied to lanes designated under Sec. 16-9. Any vehicle found obstructing a fire station, hydrant, fire protection equipment, or a marked fire lane can be removed under Sec. 16-6(j), and citations may be affixed directly to the offending vehicle under Sec. 16-19(a).