Access Management

Access management is the process that manages access to land development while simultaneously preserving the flow of traffic on the surrounding public road system in terms of safety, capacity, and speed. Access management provides a systematic means of balancing access needs and movement/mobility requirements of streets and roads.

The Indiana Department of Transportation is implementing an access management strategy for the State of Indiana. The Indiana Access Management Study has produced an Access Management Guide which can be used by state and local officials in implementing access management in the State of Indiana. The access management process supports refinement of the Future Year Transportation Report in terms of implementing the Statewide Mobility Corridor Concept and guiding the overall development of the state highway jurisdictional system.

Videos, Animation, and Visualization Tools

• Access Management Primer Video (Courtesy of FHWA)
• Access Management in Plain English Video (Courtesy of Access Management Info)
• Access Management - Sensible Solutions for Tomorrow's Traffic (Courtesy of Ohio's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP))
• Corridor Visualization Tool (Courtesy of Teach America)

Study Activities & Documents

• 2009 Training Presentation
  This is the presentation from the access management training given on July 8, 2009 at Warsaw, IN.  Access management provides for the regulation of access to properties abutting a road or highway.  While access must be given properties along a road, the agency responsible for maintaining the road may manage how access is provided to abutting properties.  Good access management can lead to better traffic flows, faster travel times, and safer roads.  The presentation shows the reasons for managing access, reviews the legal basis for access management, provides techniques for controlling access, and suggests ways to implement access management on roads.
• Final Access Management Guide
  The final draft of the Indiana Access Management Guide. The Guide contains all of the input from the previous reports as well as two documents in the Appendixes. Those documents are two Model Access Management Ordinances that can be used by local governmental entities in developing their own Access Management Codes tailored to their unique situations. The two model ordinances have sections highlighted where communities/counties can tailor those concepts to their own particular areas. The sample ordinances are:
  • A Model of the Access Management Ordinance used by the State of Kentucky
  • A Model of the Access Management Ordinance from the Michigan Access Management Guidebook.
  Overall, the Indiana Access Management Guide is intended to be the document that governs all access management decisions for INDOT. The concepts therein can also be used by community/county entities to manage access decisions at the local level as well.
• Access Management Legal Framework
  Presents the results of a review of the legal framework that currently governs rights of access in Indiana and a comparison of other state jurisdictions where relevant.
• Access Management Roadway Classification System
  Examines access classification systems from numerous state DOT's within context of the INDOT's Corridor hierarchy.
• Current INDOT Access Management Procedures 2 Mb
  Evaluates INDOT's existing access management policies as they pertain to site development, driveway location, and state and local review process with respect to access along state highways.

Related Links

• INDOT and Your Community: Partners in Access Management
• Do You Need Access to a State Highway
• Implementation Plan

Contact Information

Andrew Fitzgerald
Asset Management Engineer
Indiana Department of Transportation
100 N. Senate Ave., N955
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317-232-0913
afitzgerald@indot.in.gov