Accessing Transit – ADA Design Handbook

Florida Department of Transportation | Statewide, FL
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The Accessing Transit: Design Handbook for Florida Bus Passenger Facilities handbook is a key resource for understanding how to apply and incorporate transit facilities into roadway, infrastructure and other improvement plans. It also includes detailed instructions related to implementing required Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations as they relate to transit facilities within state Right-of-Way.

Benesch was first selected by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Transit Office to lead the development of an updated version of the design handbook in 2011. As part of this work, Benesch also led the Statewide Transit Accessibility & Facilities design course and documented needs and opportunities for updating the handbook and then completed the research, preparation and development of the updated handbook.

The updated version incorporates improvements and suggestions from transit agencies as well as current requirements and features and was redesigned to be more user-friendly for practicing professionals. For the training courses, a Quick Reference Guide was developed.

Minor subsequent revisions were made to the handbook in 2016 to address updated ADA guidance at the federal and state levels. In 2021, FDOT contracted with Benesch once again to develop an updated and expanded Version 4 of the handbook. The final document of this latest version was released by FDOT for public use in mid-2023. The related training associated with this updated version occurred shortly after.