Creativity or flexibility in highway design should not be equated with operating outside their geometric design policies. Philosophical Approach to Design Exceptions

Design creativity and design exceptions have been discussed widely within the pilot states and the highway design profession as a whole. There is a general consensus as to their role in the process of arriving at a context sensitive solution.

Design exceptions pre-date CSD/CSS, coming into prominence in the 1970s as states gradually lost their sovereign immunity. Design exceptions are not viewed as essential to successful CSD/CSS. Creativity or flexibility in design should not be equated with ignoring design criteria or an agency's accepted design practices. Staff from the pilot states confirm that the concept of flexibility in highway design does not translate to operating outside their geometric design policies. In Maryland, staff note that the number of design exceptions has not increased since Thinking Beyond the Pavement/Context Sensitive Design has become the normal course of business. This view is also confirmed by staff in Connecticut. Kentucky's most difficult and landmark CSD/CSS project, reconstruction of the Paris Pike, was completed without any design exceptions.