OS-CONNECT Gives Washington a Complete Pedestrian Map
Author: Taskar Center for Accessible Technology
Published: 2026/02/18
Publication Type: Event
Category Topic: Events - Public Notices - Related Publications
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates
Synopsis: This article covers OpenThePaths 2026, a two-day public event at the University of Washington on February 26-27 where community members, planners, transit leaders, advocates, and elected officials will convene to advance Washington State's first comprehensive statewide pedestrian infrastructure inventory - OS-CONNECT - a routable mapped dataset of sidewalks, street crossings, and curb ramps covering areas where 90% of Washington's population lives, making it directly relevant to people with disabilities, seniors, and anyone who walks, rolls, or relies on transit to reach jobs, healthcare, and daily destinations - Disabled World (DW).
Introduction
Washington Launches First Statewide OS-CONNECT Pedestrian Map
Statewide pedestrian advances accountability and action for nondrivers at OpenThePaths, Feb 26-27.
Washington now has something no state has had before: a consistent, statewide routable mapped inventory of sidewalks, street crossings, and curb ramps. OS-CONNECT covers areas where 90% of Washington's population resides, making it the most comprehensive statewide pedestrian inventory in the country. The inventory, funded through a WA state legislative proviso, creates a shared foundation for understanding how nondrivers move through communities.
Main Content
On February 26-27, community members, advocates, planners, technologists, transit leaders, and elected officials will gather at the University of Washington for OpenThePaths 2026, hosted by the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology.
This represents a shift in how Washington approaches access for nondrivers.
A shared map changes the conversation from guessing where access needs improvement to clear prioritization and project planning. Next steps are to clarify roles and move improvements forward efficiently and measurably. OpenThePaths will be about sustaining the data, identifying priorities, accountability, and measurable progress.
The dataset, known as OS-CONNECT, was developed by TCAT with support from Gaussian Solutions and funding directed by the Washington State Legislature. It provides the first common foundation for understanding how nondrivers reach jobs, school, health care, transit, and everyday destinations across the state.
Because people can now see the system together, agencies and communities can finally work together. Local, regional, state, and federal partners will be at the table to explore how shared information allows Washington to evaluate access consistently, identify gaps transparently, make smarter investments, and improve freedom of movement for people who walk and roll.
- Day 1 shows how the data can be used immediately.
- Day 2 focuses on how institutions align responsibility, funding, and long-term stewardship.
"At its heart, this is about designing transportation around the fullness of human experience," said Anat Caspi, Director of the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology. "When we can see where access works and where it fails, collaboration becomes possible, and so does accountability."
"For a long time we've known we were missing information that would help us invest wisely. Now we can fix that. With a modest investment in maintaining this data, we can avoid building disconnected pieces and instead fund the projects that truly help people. The state has a unique responsibility here, and this gives us a way to spend transportation dollars far more effectively," said Representative Greg Nance, Washington State Legislature.
"My focus is building systems that give us meaningful metrics and then using those metrics to grow capacity, not just inside one agency, but across the region. That's how we move toward a transportation system that is genuinely accessible to everyone," said Taryn Farley, ADA and Universal Access Program Manager, King County Metro.
"The value here is that the complexity is being handled. If the information our teams are already collecting can flow into a shared pipeline, we can grow this dataset faster and make it useful for more people," said Matthew Weidner, Planner III, King County Metro Access (Paratransit) and Product Owner of Metro Flex.
Media highlights include sessions on Friday morning, February 27:
- 8:50 AM - From Data Use to System Change (Anat Caspi, Director Taskar Center for Accessible Technology).
- 9:05 AM - Keynote: Crunching Data, Hiding Power (Benjie De La Peña, Executive Director Shared Use Mobility Coalition).
- 9:45 AM - How Access Becomes Policy (Councilmember Claudia Balducci, Representative Greg Nance, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck).
- 10:45 AM - Spotlight: Scale, Speed, and Sustainability (Paulo Nunes-Ueno, formerly Front and Centered, Kirk Hovenkotter, Executive Director, Transportation Choices Coalition).
- Anna Zivarts, Nondrivers Alliance will join the program later in the day.
The event is open to the public. Media are welcome to attend any session and request interviews with speakers and agency leaders.
Full schedule and registration: https://tcat.cs.washington.edu/otp2026