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IBC 2015 Common Path of Travel

M

Mech

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Joined
Oct 30, 2009
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1,036
Location
Eastern PA
PA recently updated to the 2015 codes. Looking at the Common path of travel section, it appears to me there is a major change.

In 2009, a building occupant could only travel up to the maximum common path of travel distance before having two distinct paths of travel to separate exits.

In 2015, it appears a building occupant is allowed to travel beyond the maximum common path of travel distance if there are two or more exits provided. Is this correct?

1106.2.1 Egress based on occupant load and common path of egress travel distance. Two exits or exit access doorways from any space shall be provided where the design occupant load or the common path of egress travel distance exceeds the values listed in Table 1006.2.1.
Exceptions: 1 & 2. . . .


Assuming a B use, 35 occupants, without sprinklers, the maximum common path of egress travel distance per Table 1006.2.1 is 75 feet and per Table 1017.2, exit access travel distance without a sprinkler system is 200 ft . Can the common path of travel can exceed 75 ft, say 120 ft, as long as there are at least two exits and the total access travel distance does not exceed 200 ft? The distance between exits must still be less than half the diagonal distance of the area being considered.

I am not looking to design a building this way, I just want to ensure I am interpreting this portion of the code correctly.

Thanks in advance.
 
What the section is stating is that a space is allowed to have one exit access door if the occupant load does not exceed the threshold and the common path of egress travel (CPET) does not exceed the maximum distance permitted.

If a room has one door, then there is a CPET issue and that is limited to 75 feet--if that distance exceeds 75 feet, then a second door will be required. However, if the path through the second door converges with the path through the first door, then you still have a CPET issue since the paths through each door do not lead to separate exits.
 
Thanks!

The wording threw me off track a bit and when reading both the section and table heading, my eyes and brain stopped at "exit" and skipped - "exit access doorway."
 
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