Egress & Ingress

Ingress refers to the traffic entering a property, while egress refers to the traffic to exiting the property. Business visibility is important but it is often how you enter your business that will make or break success.


The formula is simple: Set up your business so that it’seasy to get in and easy to get out.

We have all been there. Traffic is a mess and you want to turn but the cars are blocking the entrance. Imaging that this is your potential customer and now they cannot get to your business. If your ingress and egress is not set up correctly then a bottle neck will be created in your business before the customer has even stepped foot inside the building!

If you do not plan out your ingress and egress then there is a domino effect of inefficiency:

  • Customer cannot enter your business
  • Customers cannot clearly access the drive thru
  • Food and grocery deliveries will be much more difficult to receive
  • Trash collection will be difficult or create traffic bottle necks.

How do you design proper ingress and egress for a commercial business?

Your selection of property and the location of the building on the property will be crucial in the initial steps. Successful restaurants such as Chickfila and McDonalds generate traffic analysis reports that map out how the egress and ingress will affect a potential new location before they commit to the property.

They understand that the how traffic moves in and out of their business is at the forefront of their success.

There are common patterns that successful restaurants follow when designing the egress and ingress of the site. One is to ensure that cars at a red light do not block the main entrance to a business. This is found often when a property is located at the corner of a busy intersection.