Outdoor Developed Areas: A Summary of Accessibility Standards for Federal Outdoor Developed Areas

Using the Trail Exceptions [1017.1, Exceptions 1 and 2]

When a condition for exceptions does not permit full compliance with a specific provision in the technical requirements on a portion of a trail, that portion of the trail must comply with the specific provision to the extent practicable.

When extreme or numerous conditions for exceptions make it impracticable to construct a trail that complies with the technical requirements, the entire trail can be exempted from complying with the technical requirements. An entire trail can be exempted from the technical requirements only after applying the conditions for exceptions to portions of the trail. When determining whether to exempt an entire trail from the technical requirements, consider the portions of the trail or beach access route that can and cannot comply with the specific provisions in the technical requirements and the extent of compliance where full compliance cannot be achieved.

Additional information on the conditions for exceptions, including documenting use of the exceptions on portions of a trail and notifying the Access Board when an entire trail is exempted from the technical requirements, is provided in the section of this guide on the conditions for exceptions.