*BY INVITATION ONLY FROM MRSC ROSTERS* - 26-021 - ADA Stop and Transition Planning - RFQual

BY INVITATION ONLY FROM MRSC ROSTER LIST Skagit Transit operates 19 fixed bus routes and approximately 505 bus stops throughout Skagit County, Washington, serving urban centers including Mount Vernon, Burlington, Anacortes, Sedro-Woolley, and La Conner, as well as rural and suburban corridors in between. As is common among transit providers, Skagit Transit does not hold legal authority to place, construct, or modify bus stops on its own; placement and construction require permits from the jurisdiction with legal control of the right-of-way — typically a city, town, or Skagit County. Skagit Transit has published general Bus Stop Design Standards describing spacing, positioning, and amenity guidance, but the agency has not completed a comprehensive, field-verified inventory of its stops against the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the U.S. Access Board's Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG), nor has it adopted a documented methodology for prioritizing and funding the resulting improvements. Skagit Transit is soliciting a qualified consultant to prepare an ADA Transition Plan for its bus stop network. The Transition Plan will (a) inventory and assess every active bus stop for accessibility, safety, and condition; (b) establish clear, defensible design and improvement standards — including the criteria Skagit Transit will use to determine whether a location warrants a full shelter, a minimal sign-only stop, or something in between; and (c) produce a prioritized, funded, multi-year implementation plan. A central purpose of this project is to give Skagit Transit a technically sound, board-adoptable set of specifications that staff can hand to partner jurisdictions, developers, and private property owners when a new stop is requested, a roadway is being redesigned, or a development is proposed adjacent to transit — so that expectations for right-of-way, boarding and alighting (B&A) area, sidewalk connections, and amenities are clear before design begins. This Transition Plan is intended to satisfy the self-evaluation and transition planning expectations that apply to public entities under Title II of the ADA (28 CFR Part 35) and to align with FTA and WSDOT guidance on transit accessibility planning, while also serving as Skagit Transit's primary internal design reference for bus stop infrastructure going forward.