That New Driveway Off a Hood County Road Needs a Culvert Permit

Cutting a driveway onto a county road isn't a private affair, because the ditch it crosses is county right of way. Hood County Road Operations requires a permit before any culvert or structure goes into that right of way, and there's no charge for the permit. What they're protecting is drainage, not collecting a fee. The department decides the culvert's type, size, and exact placement; guess wrong on the pipe and you'll be redoing it.

The county does the grading and sets the culvert with minimal backfill. From there it's on the property owner to cover it with something solid, flexible base or concrete, and then call Road Operations at (817) 579-3304 for the final inspection. Skip the inspection and the access isn't really finished in the county's eyes.

It's the same conversation for adding a gate near the road, landscaping at the edge of the right of way, or running a utility line across it. Sorting it with the Pearl Street road office before the dirt work starts is a lot cheaper than tearing out a driveway that floods the road.