NACTO Executive Director Ryan Russo issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Dec. 18 announcement that it will adopt PROWAG fully, without modification. 

This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation adopted the Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) finalized last year by the U.S. Access Board. The guidelines standardize accessibility features across public rights-of-way, providing enforceable requirements for designing accessible streets, sidewalks, transit stops, and more. Now that U.S. DOT has adopted PROWAG without modification, all newly constructed and altered transit stops in the U.S. are subject to those guidelines beginning January 17, 2025.

When U.S. DOT requested comments on its proposed adoption of these guidelines earlier this year, NACTO worked quickly and closely with its member agencies to applaud the department for taking action–and to ask them to adopt PROWAG as it was adopted by the U.S. Access Board. 

One area of interest for U.S. DOT during rulemaking was shared boarding areas and boarding islands–designs that bring cyclists in close proximity to transit stops and riders. The agency considered prohibiting these designs as part of its adoption of PROWAG. After consultation with our member agencies, our comments requested that U.S. DOT work with researchers, practitioners, and the disability community to address concerns via guidance and toolkits–not rulemaking. Many NACTO members offered similar comments, pointing to collaboration happening across the U.S. and Canada between cities and their local disability communities to develop and evolve context-sensitive designs. We’re pleased that U.S. DOT’s final rulemaking did not modify PROWAG, allowing for this flexibility and partnership.

While PROWAG is now adopted by both the U.S. Access Board and U.S. DOT, the U.S. Department of Justice must also adopt these guidelines. While U.S. DOT can enforce PROWAG rules on public transportation facilities, the U.S. DOJ would enforce its use on sidewalks, crosswalks, signals, and other areas in the public right-of-way. In October, NACTO signed onto a letter requesting that U.S. DOJ act quickly to adopt PROWAG.

U.S. DOT’s action represents one of the final steps in ensuring accessible streets and sidewalks, part of an effort spanning decades. NACTO applauds U.S. DOT for adopting PROWAG without modifications and extends gratitude to the disability community for advocating for streets and public spaces that everyone can navigate easily and safely. These critical guidelines will bring us closer to ensuring that everyone in our cities can access the opportunities in them.