Do You Need a Permit for a Driveway or Sidewalk in Fort Worth?

Most homeowners think of the driveway as one slab running from the garage door to the street. The city sees two different things. The part on your lot is private flatwork. The strip between your property line and the curb — the parkway — belongs to the public right-of-way, and so does the public sidewalk that usually runs through it.

That dividing line is why the permit answer changes partway down your driveway. According to the City of Fort Worth's residential permit information, driveway flatwork on your own property does not require permitting, while new or repaired driveway approaches and sidewalks require parkway permits pulled by a bonded contractor.

If you are not sure where your property line falls, your plat or survey will show it. In a lot of older Fort Worth neighborhoods, the sidewalk is a reliable marker — the right-of-way generally starts in front of it, not behind.

A parkway permit covers work in the public right-of-way: the driveway approach where it meets the curb, and any public sidewalk being poured, repaired or cut through. The city's interest is that the approach lines up with the street correctly, that the sidewalk stays usable, and that the work is built to the city's standard details.

Fort Worth requires that permit to be pulled by a bonded contractor, not by the homeowner. That bonding requirement exists because the work is on city property — the bond protects the city if right-of-way work fails or is left unfinished.

Practically, this means you should ask any contractor bidding your driveway a direct question before you sign: are you pulling the parkway permit, and are you bonded with the city to do it? If the approach is part of your project and nobody has an answer, that is a gap worth resolving before concrete is ordered. Our post on questions to ask a concrete contractor has more of these.

Dallas regulates the approach itself with specific dimensions. Under Dallas City Code § 43-94, a residential driveway approach must be not less than 10 feet and not more than 30 feet wide, measured at the property line. The same section requires approaches to be built dustpan style per the Public Works Standard Construction Details unless the director approves an alternate curb radius.

There is a second rule in that section that catches people off guard: where a driveway approach crosses an existing sidewalk, that section of sidewalk has to be removed and rebuilt as driveway approach. You cannot simply pour up to the old sidewalk and leave it.

The code library that publishes this text notes it may not reflect the most recently adopted legislation, so confirm the current requirement with the city before you plan around a number.

We are based in Rhome, and the rules north of the metro work differently again. The City of Rhome publishes its permit forms online, including contractor registration, a building permit packet, an accessory structure permit and a carport application. The fee schedule lives in Chapter 15 of the city's online code.

For rural property that connects to a county road rather than a city street, Wise County issues its own driveway permit. If your drive ties into a county road, that form is the one to look at, not a city process.

We have not reprinted the specific flatwork requirements from those packets here, because they change and because your lot's situation decides which one applies. Call the city or county office and ask directly — it takes one phone call and saves a rebuild.

Permitting sits between the estimate and the pour, not after it. Once the scope is settled — how much slab, whether the approach is included, whether an existing sidewalk section gets removed and replaced — that is when the right-of-way paperwork gets handled.

That order matters because the permit can change the work. If the approach has to be rebuilt to a city standard detail, the forming and the concrete quantity change with it. Settling that first keeps the number on your estimate from moving.

Demolition, base prep and forming all follow. If you are getting ready for a project, preparing your yard ahead of time keeps the crew moving once the schedule is set.

We talk through the site, the scope and the finish before any work begins, and that conversation includes where your flatwork ends and the right-of-way starts. Our concrete driveway work covers removal when required, base and form preparation, placement and finish; our sidewalk work covers walkways, paths, entry approaches and removal and replacement.

Whatever is agreed goes into a written estimate, so the scope is on paper rather than assumed. The project estimate is free. Call (817) 210-5188 and tell us the address and what you are trying to do — that is usually enough for us to say whether right-of-way work is in play.

One last note on everything above: city requirements and fees change. Treat this page as a starting point and confirm the current rule with Fort Worth, Dallas, Rhome or Wise County before you rely on it.