Curbing
Concrete Curb Installation in Portland, Oregon
Cojo
May 7, 2026
7 min read
Concrete curb installation in Portland, Oregon means working under three layered authorities at once: the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) for anything in the public right-of-way, the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) for the site permit when curbing is part of a paving or building project, and Title 17 of the City Code for design standards. Every curb we pour inside city limits has to satisfy all three before final inspection signs off.
What follows is the field-tested version of what a Portland property owner actually needs to know — mix spec, permit timing, inspection cadence, price reality — before a slipform crew shows up.
PBOT's Public Works Permit is required any time a curb ties into the public right-of-way -- a driveway apron, a curb cut, a sidewalk corner. The permit application sits in PBOT's online portal and runs 4 to 8 weeks for review depending on engineer workload. Inside a private parking lot that does not touch the right-of-way, the curb is part of the site civil scope under the BDS site permit and does not need a separate PBOT review.
A 60-word direct answer: Concrete curb installation in Portland, Oregon, must follow PBOT Title 17 standards on right-of-way work and BDS site-permit standards on private property. Class 4000 PSI concrete is the city's default mix. Permits run 4 to 8 weeks. Cojo's Portland crews slipform 100 to 200 linear feet per day on commercial parking lots and hand-form irregular curves and ADA ramps.
Portland accepts Class 4000 concrete (4,000 PSI minimum at 28 days) for standard parking-lot curbs and Class 4500 for ADA curb ramps and high-traffic transitions. Mix designs follow ODOT Standard Specification 00759. For freeze-thaw resistance in our climate, we spec a 5% to 7% air entrainment range and a water-cement ratio at or under 0.45. The city's PBOT Standard Construction Specifications cross-reference the same ODOT mix tables.
Barrier curb (6-inch face, 8-inch face): #4 longitudinal rebar continuous through the pour, with #4 transverse dowels every 4 feet at construction joints. Extruded ribbon curb: typically no rebar. Curb-and-gutter combinations: #4 mat in the gutter pan plus continuous longitudinal in the curb. ACI 318 governs the cover -- we hold 2 inches minimum from any face exposed to weather.
| Phase | Typical Duration |
|---|---|
| PBOT permit application + review | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Subgrade prep + base aggregate | 1 to 2 days |
| Form set or slipform machine setup | half day to 1 day |
| Pour day (commercial parking lot) | 1 to 2 days |
| Cure before traffic | 7 days minimum, 14 days preferred |
| Final inspection sign-off | 3 to 10 business days after request |
The PBOT inspector verifies:
Portland-area pricing tracks national commercial benchmarks with a freight-and-labor premium. See our broader parking lot curbing cost breakdown for full ranges.
Industry Baseline Range
| Curb Type | Price Per Linear Foot (Installed) |
|---|---|
| 6-inch barrier curb (slipformed) | $12 to $22+ |
| Mountable curb (4-inch face) | $10 to $18+ |
| Curb and gutter (combined section) | $18 to $32+ |
| ADA curb ramp (each, with truncated domes) | $1,400 to $3,800+ |
| Hand-formed irregular radius | $20 to $40+ |
Concrete prices in the Portland metro have climbed since 2022 because of cement-shortage pass-throughs, hauling fuel, and labor scarcity in the slipform trade. Spring and summer pours carry a premium because the productive pour window is short. Add demolition costs ($6 to $14 per linear foot of removal) when replacing existing curb.
In March 2026, Cojo crews replaced 1,840 linear feet of failed barrier curb at a 25,000-square-foot retail center in NE Portland near 82nd Avenue. The original 1990s curb had heaved at every expansion joint after three decades of freeze-thaw cycles. We saw-cut full sections, demoed at 8-foot spans, reset #4 rebar with epoxy-anchor dowels into adjacent slabs, and slipformed Class 4000 mix at 145 linear feet per day. PBOT inspection signed off on day 11. The retrofit included three new ADA curb ramps with cast-in-place truncated dome panels at the main entrance crossing.
Our Portland-area curbing crews regularly work in:
For broader paving scope on the same site, we coordinate with the existing service team -- see our paving contractor Portland Oregon page.
Every public-facing crossing requires a 1:12 maximum running slope, 36-inch minimum width, detectable warning surface (truncated domes) at the base, and a level 4-foot top landing. Our ADA curb ramp slope requirements sibling article covers the full ADAAG 4.7 spec. Portland adds the requirement that ramps align with marked crosswalks at signalized intersections.
Most retail and medical clients cannot close the lot. We sequence in 4-stall blocks: demo and pour a quarter of the lot, cure 7 days under barricade, then move to the next quarter. Total mobilization runs 3 to 4 weeks for a 200-stall lot, with the property staying 75 percent operational the entire time.
The right type depends on traffic, drainage, and aesthetics. The best concrete curb types for parking lots sibling article ranks the four common variants. For most Portland commercial parking lots, our default is 6-inch barrier curb on perimeters, mountable curb at fire-lane access points, and ribbon curb in drainage channels.
We handle slipform and hand-formed concrete curb installation across the Portland metro — including PBOT permit handling, ADA-compliant ramp work, and coordination with concurrent paving or striping scope. Contact Cojo for a site walk and a written scope.
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