TWM Contributor: Emily Fisher, PE
ADA Design Engineer
The Importance of Designing for Compliance & Community
When it comes to designing a transportation system involving traffic, streets, and highways, safety and efficiency are undeniably among the top priorities. But an often-overlooked design component is ADA compliance. ADA compliance isn’t just a box to check—it’s a legal requirement and a matter of public responsibility.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA pertains specifically to public rights-of-way and government-owned buildings, mandating inclusive design and removing barriers to participation in public spaces.
Yet, despite good intentions, even well-established and experienced teams make preventable mistakes in accessibility planning and execution. As engineers, planners, and designers, it’s our job to ensure that the environments we help create are not just functional, but community-focused.
Small Oversights Can Mean Big Impacts
Some of the most common ADA design deficiencies include misaligned or excess cross slopes, irregular sidewalk surfaces, and barriers such as utility poles, benches, and signs within the traveled way. ADA ramps often lack proper landing areas, have excess slopes, and are missing detectable warnings. Other issues include inadequate clear width, improper gratings, and obstructions at ramps. Traffic signals may lack pedestrian push buttons or have buttons that are inaccessible, and often lack provisions for the visually impaired, including inadequate pedestrian cycle time.
However, with a little planning and the right design approach, you can avoid the majority of these pitfalls. Here are three of the most common oversights and how to prevent them:
- Misinterpreting ADA Guidelines
Not understanding and applying the specific requirements of ADA guidelines can lead to non-compliance, which exposes clients to legal and financial risks, including costly lawsuits, fines and penalties, project delays, and loss of funding. There’s also considerable risk to people due to unsafe conditions and barrier to access. While designs that focus on minimum compliance could technically pass inspection, it undermines the purpose of ADA to include environments that serve everyone and work for real users. Plus, it can really harm a firm’s reputation and professional credibility with clients. A ramp that meets slope requirements but lacks landings or handrails isn’t truly accessible.
How to avoid it: Think beyond just checking off ADA boxes and incorporate a universal design from the very beginning of the ADA design process. Collaborating with accessibility advocates and other users early on can lead to inclusive spaces that work better for all. Create a centralized checklist and ADA design guide and share it across all project stakeholders. You can also assign an accessibility lead on larger projects to ensure consistency across design phases.
- Overlooking Site Constraints
Topography, drainage, and existing infrastructure often present challenges when planning accessible environments. If ADA elements are only considered or added late in the design process, it can lead to awkward retrofits and/or costly design compromises. Sloped sites, limited right-of-way, and underground utilities can all impact how and where ADA elements—such as ramps, sidewalks, or curb ramps—can be integrated.
As someone who’s been in the industry for almost 20 years, IL Transportation Engineering Leader, Jeff Reis, PE, PTOE, offers valuable insights. He often says, “design with room for error. Finishing concrete or rolling asphalt can be challenging so designs should be set for approximately 1.5% slope instead of 2% to give flexibility to the finisher or roller.”
How to avoid it: Plan for ADA early in the project lifecycle with surveyors and landscape architects. This will help ensure compliance and align ADA requirements with site grading, circulation, and utilities from day one—without falling short of function and design integrity. Use 3D modeling and LiDAR to catch grading issues early and confirm constructed elements meet specifications. It’s also helpful to include field verification in your QA/QC process.
- Lack of Clear Wayfinding & Connectivity
It’s not enough to make individual features accessible—connectivity matters. With multiple disciplines working on the same project, ADA features like curb ramps, detectable warnings, and signage may get lost in translation or missed entirely in coordination. A sidewalk that doesn’t connect to an entrance or a transit stop that’s hard to reach can make the design ineffective and less useful for the people who need it.
Out of all the projects I’ve worked on, the IL Route 158 Washington Street Streetscape in Millstadt, IL stands out as one of the most challenging for ADA. We were dealing with a historic downtown street with narrow right-of-way, close buildings, and steps leading up to almost every entrance. On top of that, the road itself was remaining in place – we were only replacing the curb and gutter – so regrading and reprofiling wasn’t an option. It required careful planning and a lot of time to get the layout right. We had to step back, assess the entire picture, test different approaches, and adjust the design multiple times to make sure all the ADA components were compliant. It really pushed me and our team to get creative while keeping the overall vision and objectives in perspective.
How to avoid it: Take a big picture approach and walk through the entire journey. Think about the user’s path-of-travel from the parking lot to a building’s entrance, from the transit stop to the sidewalk. Accessibility for community connections should never be isolated or feel like an afterthought.
Beyond the Checklist: ADA in Practice
As engineers, our clients depend on us to create spaces that people move through every day, whether it’s the sidewalk outside, the building they work in, or the park they visit. The way we design these spaces can make a real difference in how people experience the world around them. That’s why making ADA compliance a core part of the design process is so important. It simplifies the design process, ensures better accessibility, and results in environments that are more user-friendly for people of all abilities.
About TWM’s Transportation & ADA Specialists
TWM is considered one of the top pedestrian and bikeway trail planning and design firms serving southern Illinois and Missouri. Our Transportation Group has significant ADA compliance experience and provides a full range of design and construction observation services. Our team is proficient in ADA transition planning and has designed ADA-compliant sidewalks, curb ramps, and traffic signals and are knowledgeable in all aspects of roadways, shared-use paths, and multi-modal design creating seamless, safe environments for pedestrians, cyclists, and individuals needing accessibility measures.
If you need ADA support or help with accessibility planning, contact us to keep your next project on the right path. Smart design is better when it’s a team effort!
Learn more about our transportation and traffic engineering services. Read more about the IL Route 158 Streetscape project.
