Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram
Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
HEP Events Guidance Publications Glossary Awards Contacts

Context Sensitive Solutions Technical Assistance: Washington State Department of Transportation

Background

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has earned a reputation as a leader among states in applying Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) and practical solutions principles to its transportation project planning process.

In the mid-1990s, WSDOT began taking steps to more effectively incorporate project context into its design decision making process, to better align project outcomes with project needs. Over the years, WSDOT has developed and circulated valuable guidance to its project teams regarding CSS and multi-modal approaches for effective design and planning. It has also incrementally adapted its Design Manual to provide increasing design flexibility based on urban and rural context.

In 2005, WSDOT produced a guidance document for their Design Manual to help project teams better understand design flexibility. Over the next 11 years, WSDOT also introduced several new policies and guidance materials supporting CSS principles.

In 2015, WSDOT issued a new design manual which characterizes practical design as “a means to produce environmentally conscious, sustainable, context-based designs that achieve the purpose and need for the lowest cost. Implementing practical design considers the needs of all users, fostering livable communities and modally integrated transportation systems used safely by all, including motorists, freight haulers, transit, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”

In addition, WSDOT has promoted practical solutions as a framework for implementing practical design, good asset management, performance-based decision making, community engagement, and least cost planning. The WSDOT website defines practical solutions as “a two-part strategy that includes: least cost planning and practical design in which WSDOT is undertaking to enable more flexible and sustainable transportation investment decisions. It encourages this by increasing the focus on project purpose and need throughout all phases of project development.”

Updated: 7/28/2017
HEP Home Planning Environment Real Estate
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000