36 CFR Part 1190, Proposed Accessibility Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)

Chapter R1: Application and Administration (Section-by-Section Analysis)

R101 Purpose (Section-by-Section Analysis)

The proposed guidelines contain scoping and technical requirements to ensure that facilities for pedestrian circulation and use located in the public right-of-way are readily accessible to and usable by pedestrians with disabilities. When the guidelines are adopted, with or without additions and modifications, as accessibility standards in regulations issued by other federal agencies implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504, and the Architectural Barriers Act, compliance with the accessibility standards is mandatory.

The proposed guidelines do not address existing facilities unless they are included within the scope of an alteration to an existing facility undertaken at the discretion of a covered entity. The Department of Justice regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act contain requirements for state and local governments regarding program accessibility and existing facilities. See 28 CFR 35.150. The Department of Transportation regulations implementing Section 504 also contain requirements for recipients of federal financial assistance from the Department regarding compliance planning. See 49 CFR 27.11 (c). As discussed above under the Major Issues, transportation officials who commented on the 2002 draft guidelines expressed concern about existing facilities that are not altered. When the Department of Justice and Department of Transportation conduct rulemaking to include accessibility standards for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way in regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, they will address the application of the accessibility standards to existing facilities that are not altered. Comments concerning existing facilities that are not altered should be directed to the Department of Justice and Department of Transportation when they conduct rulemaking to include accessibility standards for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way in regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504.

R102 Equivalent Facilitation (Section-by-Section Analysis)

The use of alternative designs, products, or technologies that result in substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability than the proposed guidelines is permitted.

R103 Conventions (Section-by-Section Analysis)

Conventional industry tolerances apply where dimensions are not stated as a range. Where the required number of accessible facilities or elements is based on ratios or percentages and remainders or fractions result, the next greater whole number is required. Where the required size or dimension of a facility or element is based on ratios or percentages, rounding down for values less than one half is permitted. Measurements are stated in metric and U.S. customary units, and each system of measurement is to be used independently of the other.

R104 Referenced Standards (Section-by-Section Analysis)

The proposed guidelines incorporate by reference certain standards in the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD). The referenced MUTCD standards are discussed below under the relevant requirements regarding the provision of alternate pedestrian access routes when a pedestrian circulation path is temporarily closed, the provision of accessible pedestrian signals and pedestrian pushbuttons, and pedestrian signal phase timing. The MUTCD is available on the Federal Highway Administration website at: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov.

R105 Definitions (Section-by-Section Analysis)

The proposed guidelines incorporate the MUTCD definitions for the following terms: highway, intersection, island, median, pedestrian, roundabout, sidewalk, splitter island, and street. The proposed guidelines define the following terms: accessible, alteration, blended transition, cross slope, curb line, curb ramp, element, facility, grade break, operable part, pedestrian access route, pedestrian circulation path, public right-of-way, qualified historic facility, running slope, and vertical surface discontinuities. These definitions are discussed in the sections where the terms are used. Collegiate dictionaries are used to determine the meaning of terms that are not defined in the proposed guidelines, referenced MUTCD standards, or regulations issued by federal agencies that adopt the proposed guidelines as accessibility standards. Singular and plural words, terms, and phrases are used interchangeably.