NCD advises FHWA on ground transportation recommendations

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Transportation

March 17, 2026

WASHINGTON–The National Council on Disability (NCD) recently sent a letter to U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Sean McMaster regarding ground transportation recommendations impacting people with disabilities.

The letter referenced NCD’s 2025 report, Ground Transportation for People with Mobility Disabilities 2025: Challenges and Progress. Data used in the report came from the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) conducted by FHWA.

“Overall, NCD found that while some progress has been made, transportation barriers remain a major concern for people with mobility disabilities across the nation,” wrote NCD Acting Chairman Neil Romano. “These barriers contribute to a host of negative outcomes like unemployment, poverty, inability to access health care, isolation, and diminished social participation.”

NTHS data from 2017 and 2022 supported NCD’s finding that people with disabilities continue to be a significantly transportation-disadvantaged population compared to people without disabilities.

NCD recommended that the FHWA:

improve the quality of disability data obtained by the NHTS by adding questions to help determine the number of people who need wheelchair-accessible transportation
address potential language barriers by ensuring that households with limited English proficiency (LEP) are informed of the availability of DOT LEP resources to complete the survey
maintain a larger sample size for the NHTS
work with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to administer the National Transportation Availability and Use Survey again soon.

FHWA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation that supports State and local governments in the design, construction, and maintenance of the Nation’s highway system and various federally and tribal owned lands.

NCD is an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and other federal agencies on disability policy to advance the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Read the letter at NCD.gov.

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