How Do I Submit an Application for a Street Use Annual Vehicle Permit?

An Annual Vehicle Permit is a Street Use permit that allows for short-term uses of the public right-of-way with minimal impacts to the travelling public and existing infrastructure. Annual Vehicle Permits are obtained for a calendar year and required for each vehicle in use simultaneously. These permits are not renewable and must be applied for each year.

For information on allowable uses and restrictions, see SDOT’s Annual Vehicle Permits page.

Annual Vehicle applications are automatically issued; they do not require payment before they are issued, and no review is needed for the Application. This means that as soon as the Annual Vehicle Application is submitted, it is automatically issued and fees are billed.

TIP: If you are looking for a permit to park in front of your residence in a Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ), please refer to How to Submit a Restricted Parking Zone Permit Application. Do not apply for an Annual Vehicle permit.

This article describes how to submit an application for an Annual Vehicle Permit via the Seattle Services Portal. It also explains how permit records and permit documents are created based on the number of annual vehicles requested on your application.

Login to the Seattle Services Portal.
IMPORTANT: If you do not yet have a Seattle Services Portal Account, you must register before proceeding. The contact information you provide during registration must match the contact information we have on record for your application.
Under Create New, click Permits – Street Use.
Records are grouped by type of permit. Click the triangle symbol next to each group to expand (or collapse) the list. A description is provided. For an Annual Vehicle Permit, expand either the Utility or the ROW Construction group. The application is the same from either group.
Select Annual Vehicle Application.
Click Continue Application to start the Application process.
In Step 1: Contacts, your application requires four contacts:
- The Applicant - who is applying
- The Owner – typically the same as the Financially Responsible Party
- The Financially Responsible Party - who is paying for the permit
- The Onsite Contact - who is available if we need to speak with somebody onsite
If the Applicant or the Financially Responsible Party is not the same as the Owner, you will be asked to upload a Letter of Authorization for each contact that is different later in the process, before submitting your application.
To add the Applicant’s contact information, click Select from Account to auto-populate the contact information from your Seattle Services Portal user account. If the Applicant is someone else, click Look Up to find an existing contact or click Add New to create a new Contact.
Scroll down to provide information about the remaining three required contacts. To copy details from a contact you have already added to your application, select the appropriate same as option. Or you can use Select from Account, Add New, or Look Up.
To optionally add additional contacts, scroll down to the Additional Contacts section. Use Select from Account, Add New, or Look Up to add the additional contact information. Select the contact Type when prompted and click Continue.
Click Continue Application.
In Step 2: Related Information, use this section to provide the following.
- Customer Reference (optional) – There are two fields you may use for your reference. Customer Reference appears on your invoice.
- Number of Annual Vehicles (required) – Enter the number of vehicles for which you need an Annual Vehicle Permit. There is a limit of 150 vehicles per application. If you need permits for more than 150 vehicles, submit an additional application.
- Year (required) – Enter the current year or next year. Defaults to the current year if the current date is September 30 or earlier. Defaults to the next year if the current date is October 1 or later. If the default is next year, you may change the default to the current year if you need a permit for the current year. You may not apply for next year’s permits until October 1 or later.
- Total Fee Estimate (read only) – Defaults with an auto-calculated amount based on the number of vehicles.
Click Continue Application to proceed to Step 3.
In Step 3: Attachments, required documents are uploaded. If Applicant, Owner, and Financially Responsible Party are the same, skip to step 18. Otherwise, to attach a Letter of Authorization document, click Select.
On the File Upload pop-up, click Select.
Browse your computer and select the correct document, just like you browse to find a document to attach to an email. Click Open to upload your file.
To attach more documents, repeat steps 14-15. Once all documents are selected, click Done.
When you attach your document, select a Document Type. Make sure to select the document type that matches your required document, otherwise the system does not know you have provided the requested document. For example, select Letter of Authorization as your Document Type when uploading the matching document. Then click Save to attach the document(s) to the application.
The document(s) you just saved are displayed. Click Continue Application to progress to Step 4. If you see a red Attention message, that means you either have not selected the correct Document Type and/or have missed a required document. If a document is missing, go back to step 13 and upload the missing document. If you selected the wrong Document Type on a document that you have already saved, upload the document again and pick the Document Type that matches the Condition in the Attention message. You may also add a description explaining that you are uploading the document a second time with the correct Document Type. When you see a message with a green checkmark, click Continue Application again to progress to Step 4.
In Step 4: Review, a summary page is displayed. Review your application information. Click the Edit button to go back and make updates.
Once reviewed, scroll to the very bottom, and check the box to agree to the listed terms and conditions.
Click Continue Application to submit your application.
A message displays confirming that your application submitted successfully. Make note of your Record Number. The record number for your application begins with SUVEH. An e-mail is sent to the four required contacts on the application notifying them of the application submission.
The requested permits are automatically issued – there is no Street Use review. One permit record is created for each annual vehicle you requested back in step 12. You will see these permits in your My Records list starting with a prefix of SUVEHP. (If you do not see your permit records, wait a few minutes. Your application record status will change from Pending to Issued when all the permit records have been created. This may take some time depending on the number of permits and how busy the system is.) Your fees will be billed to the Financially Responsible Party in the next monthly billing cycle.
A permit document is also created. There is a single PDF file that contains a permit for each vehicle. This document is attached to your application - the one that starts with SUVEH - not your permit. A single document makes it easier for applications with many annual vehicles. The permit document is named SU005_StreetUsePermitSet followed by a date and time stamp. The permit document is created by a nightly process, so it will take up to 24 hours before the document is available. Shortly after the permit report is created, the Record Status on your application changes from Issued to Closed. Your permit records remain in Issued status until they expire on December 31 of the permitted year.
To view or print your permit(s), follow the steps below. For full details, refer to How Do I Find and Print Permits and Other Documents for My Street Use Permit.