A Passion for ADA Design
Over his 10-year career in transportation engineering, Edward Taylor has become a recognized technical expert in ADA-compliant design. He works closely with several different offices within MnDOT to help make Minnesota intersections, sidewalks, and trails accessible and safer for all. In honor of the 34th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we checked in with Edward to learn more about one of his impactful ADA projects, the I-35/I-535/Hwy 53 Twin Ports Interchange (TPI) reconstruction project in Duluth, MN.
Anyone who has traveled to Duluth is probably familiar with its interesting geography from its steep hills to its shoreline along Lake Superior. They are also likely aware of the maze of roadways and bridges that converge near the Port of Duluth-Superior, North America’s farthest-inland freshwater seaport.
The TPI reconstruction is a massive project spanning multiple years and phases and involving multiple consultant firms and agencies. It is replacing aging infrastructure and improving safety by bringing all exits and entrances to the right side of the roadway, improving merging sight distances, eliminating merge conflicts, and providing lane continuity. With the reconfiguration of the highways above, the street-level facilities are also being replaced and brought to current ADA standards.
In partnership with other consultants and MnDOT District 1, Isthmus led the Highway 53 reconstruction component of the project through the Lincoln Park neighborhood including roadway design, corridor modeling, ADA design, and drainage design. Edward led the preliminary and final ADA design including the ADA scoping, the intersection detail sheets, and ADA plan sheets. He shared that working on this project was interesting because, “it had a little bit of everything – the downtown setting with doorways to match into, challenging, steep grades of the Duluth hillside, and the exciting aspect of being part of a $435M, large reconstruction project.”
Attending the ADA scoping field walk was a return for Edward to the city where he lived for five years as a student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the opportunity to help improve accessibility for a community he feels connected to. “I am most proud of the accessible connections that we were able to achieve,” Edward reflected. “The existing accessible pedestrian connection routed users into the off ramp of the highway, which is not a safe place for them to be traveling. The added accessible sidewalk connections will also reduce the total distance users need to traverse, which is especially important with the steep terrain of Duluth.”
Edward brings his passion for accessibility for all and expertise in ADA design, standards, and software tools to specific projects like the TPI reconstruction, as well as to support the MnDOT Central Office ADA-Operations Unit conducting ADA field walks and ADA plan reviews. He has also been involved in the development and review of ADA-specific standard plans, worked on ADA Title II Complaint projects, and worked with the MnDOT Metro Equity Advancement Office on field walks, ADA design and plan production, and demonstration projects. His work is helping support MnDOT’s with its ADA Transition Plan and ADA Compliance goal of 100% by 2037.
The TPI project is currently under construction with completion scheduled for the summer of 2026. For more information, visit the MnDOT project page at https://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/twin-ports-interchange/index.html. For more information on ADA Design services at Isthmus, visit https://isthmusengineering.com/services/ada-design.