On a curbed street, the driveway access has a depressed section of curb where vehicles cross. Widening the driveway means extending that depression, and adding a new driveway means creating one. Either way you are altering City infrastructure inside the right of way, so the City decides whether and how.
What you need
- An access permit, approving the design and location of the access — required to construct or modify a vehicular access.
- Then a road cut permit under the Road Activity By-law (No. 2003-445) to carry out the work in the right of way.
- Utility locates through Ontario One Call before any breaking.
- A contractor holding a City of Ottawa hardscaping contractor licence.
Why the design matters here more than elsewhere
The Access Design Requirements govern the total width of the access, the minimum distance from a neighbouring property line, the distance from an intersection and the slope. A curb cut is where slope usually becomes the binding constraint: the transition from road level to your driveway has to happen within the right of way, and if your property sits high or low relative to the road, there is only so much you can do in that distance. On steep frontages this is what kills a design.
Corner lots run into the intersection setback. A wide access close to the corner affects sightlines, and the City restricts the right of way partly for exactly that reason.
What it adds to the cost
Curb work is concrete work, and it is priced as its own trade rather than folded into the paving rate. Between the two permit fees, the saw cutting, the removal and disposal of the existing curb section, the forming and pouring, and the cure time before anyone can drive on it, a curb alteration is a meaningful addition to a widening budget rather than a rounding error. Get it itemised separately in any quote so you can see it.
Also budget the schedule, not just the money: fresh concrete needs time, and that sits on the critical path between excavation and finished driveway.
If you have a ditch instead of a curb
Most rural and village frontages have a ditch and a culvert rather than a curb. The principle is the same — you need permission to alter the access — but the work is different and an access culvert has its own permit requirement. Rural entrances and culverts →
Curb cut in your project?
Send the address and a photo from the street. We'll tell you whether the slope works and what the curb work adds.