ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

A. Background

Under Project Civic Access (PCA), the Civil Rights Division works with local governments nationwide to help them achieve compliance with Title II of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). This Chapter discusses the ADA requirements for curb ramps at pedestrian crossings that are currently enforced by the Division under PCA.

Curb ramps are a small but important part of making sidewalks, street crossings, and the other pedestrian routes that make up the public right-of-way accessible to people with disabilities. But they are just one part.

The federal government has begun a rulemaking process to revise the accessibility requirements for public rights-of-way. The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) is developing new accessibility guidelines. The new guidelines will cover pedestrian access to sidewalks and streets, including crosswalks, curb ramps, street furnishings, pedestrian signals, parking, and other parts of the public right-of-way. The new guidelines will likely address issues such as access at street crossings for pedestrians who are blind or have low vision, wheelchair access to on-street parking, and constraints posed by space limitations, roadway design practices, slope, and terrain. On November 23, 2005, the Access Board published revised draft accessibility guidelines for public rights-of-way, which are available on its website at www.access-board.gov/prowac/index.htm [sic]. In developing these draft guidelines, the Access Board obtained recommendations from an Advisory Committee composed of representatives from disability organizations, public works departments, transportation and traffic engineering groups, the design and civil engineering professions, government agencies, and standards-setting bodies. The Advisory Committee’s report is available on the Access Board’s website at www.access-board.gov/prowac/commrept/index.htm [sic]. Although any ADA guidelines developed by the Access Board will not be enforceable under Title II of the ADA until the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Transportation issue regulations adopting them as standards, the Access Board’s website provides information discussing accessibility concerns relating to curb ramps, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, and other pedestrian routes.

Another source of information about the federal accessibility requirements for public rights-of-way is the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation. As the agency that administers the federal funding used by many state and local governments to construct highways, roads, streets, and other elements of the public right-of-way, FHWA is also responsible for implementing and enforcing the federal accessibility requirements applied to the public right-of-way. The FHWA website includes the following materials, which should be of particular interest to those entities receiving federal funds from FHWA:

• “Questions and Answers About ADA/Section 504" (www.fhwa.dot.gov/civilrights/ada_qa.htm);

• a memorandum describing FHWA’s oversight role on federal accessibility requirements (www.fhwa.dot.gov/civilrights/ada_memo_clarificationa.htm [sic]);

• FHWA’s notice adopting the Access Board’s draft accessibility guidelines for the public right-of-way as currently recommended best practices (www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/prwaa.htm); and,

• FHWA’s memorandum on detectable warnings (www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/dwm.htm).

The process of adopting revised federal accessibility standards for public rights-of-way may be lengthy. In the meantime, many state and local governments will construct and alter highways, streets, roads, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings. This Chapter is an effort to ensure that public entities do not create barriers to access by omitting curb ramps while the broader debate on accessibility requirements for public rights-of-way moves forward