ADA Transition Plan Update
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share your feedback and participate in the ADA Transition Plan Update survey. The surveys are now closed. Our team will review and analyze the feedback received, and we will share the survey results once that analysis is complete.
Please stay tuned for additional updates on this website and at our next upcoming Pedestrian Access Advisory Committee meeting. We appreciate your interest and input as we work to improve pedestrian access and accessibility in our community.
About the ADA Transition Plan
The City of Seattle is committed to making its public programs, services, and spaces accessible to everyone, specifically focusing on barriers and priorities important to people with disabilities. We are updating our ADA Transition Plan to help us achieve this goal. This Transition Plan Update (TPU) will help us understand existing barriers, prioritize improvements, and ensure our city is accessible and inclusive for all. It is also a way to track improvements that have been completed to remove previously identified barriers.
This plan supports the Seattle Department of Transportation's (SDOT) vision, mission, and values. It also works with other city plans, like the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP) and the Comprehensive Plan Update. The main goal is to find and remove barriers that inhibit people with disabilities from using public facilities or accessing programs, services, and activities.
Transition Plan Update Goals
The plan aims to do the following:
- Equitable Compliance: Make the City more accessible and inclusive for everyone by finding, prioritizing, and removing barriers for people with disabilities, making it easier to access programs, services, or activities.
- Community Engagement: Strengthen community engagement by working with people with disabilities and community organizations, including the Pedestrian Access Advisory Committee (PAAC), to shape priorities and plan updates.
- Plan Alignment: Align accessibility with Citywide transportation planning efforts, making sure the Transition Plan works in coordination with programs and projects within in the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP), the Transportation Levy, the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan, and the Transportation Equity Framework (TEF).
Timeline
Note: timeline is subject to change
2026 Q2
Project Kickoff
May 2026
Survey launch and start of awareness campaign to improve feedback on TPU.
2026 Q3
Review Values and Confirm Priorities
September 2026 to March 2027
Identify priority locations and destinations and barriers to access through feedback from survey, focus groups, and listening sessions
2027 Q1-2028 Q1
Self-Evaluations and Update Methods to Remove Barriers
March 2027 - March 2028
Conduct assessments of identified facilities and barriers, including updates to how SDOT plans to remove barriers through policies, procedures, and technical requirements
2028 Q1 - Q3
Project Coordination and Development
March 2028 to September 2028
Enhance existing coordination efforts and partnerships and identify gaps with existing barriers to develop projects and timelines to remediate barriers
2028 Q3
Feedback on Draft TPU
September 2028
Coordinate with disability community and partners to review draft plan
2028 Q4
Update Complete
December 2028
ADA Transition Plan Update Published
How you can participate
We believe accessibility is defined best by the people who experience our community every day. That’s why community participation is essential to this plan.
Whether you are a person with a disability, a family member, a caregiver, an advocate, or someone who wants to help shape a more inclusive city—we want to hear from you.
You can participate by:
- Sharing feedback through surveys and online forms
- Attending community workshops or listening sessions
- Partnering as a community-based organization
- Reporting a barrier or suggesting a priority area
- Signing up for project updates
Your experiences will help us understand what works, what doesn’t, and what changes are most needed.
Survey open through September
We invite you to take our ADA Transition Plan Update Survey! It is open from now until Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
To request the survey in an alternative format (Large Print, Braille, etc), please email the request to dot_adaprogram@seattle.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides comprehensive civil rights protections for people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA requires state and local governments to ensure that their programs, services and facilities are accessible to people with disabilities by developing an ADA Transition Plan.
Pedestrian facilities are those intended for pedestrian travel, such as sidewalks, curb ramps, crosswalks, shared paths and pedestrian signals. The public right-of-way is land acquired or dedicated for public roads and streets. Pedestrian facilities also include access to other transportation modes such as public transit, parking, and passenger loading within the public right-of-way.
A barrier is something that prevents travel along a pedestrian facility within Seattle’s right-of-way. Examples of barriers include sidewalk obstructions, such as utility poles or overgrown vegetation; cracked or uneven sidewalks; curb ramps that are missing or don’t meet current ADA standards; and existing pedestrian signals where the pushbutton is inaudible, inaccessible or missing.
SDOT previously developed an ADA Transition Plan, which was published in 2020, to address the requirements of Title II of the ADA that apply to pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way. The Transition Plan and subsequent plan updates are required to assure compliance with federal ADA laws, as well as eligibility for federal funding, by showing we are systematically removing existing barriers to access. The plan is meant to be a living document that will be updated annually as we complete projects, identify new projects, and obtain public feedback. With the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP), Transportation Levy, and other city-wide and department efforts, it’s important for SDOT to update our current Transition Plan to reflect all the past barrier removal projects and identify a framework for future coordination efforts and the development of new barrier removal projects.
While Title II of the ADA requires state and local governments to develop and update an ADA Transition Plan, it’s common for larger cities like to Seattle to have multiple ADA Transition Plans to address accessibility barriers relevant to specific department responsibilities, such as park facilities for Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation or access to programs and services provided by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Since SDOT is responsible for the public right-of-way, including sidewalks and curb ramps, SDOT focuses on elements we manage in our Transition Plan.