ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

B. What Is a Curb Ramp?

A curb ramp is a short ramp cutting through a curb or built up to it.¹ If designed and constructed to be accessible, a curb ramp provides an accessible route that people with disabilities can use to safely transition from a roadway to a curbed sidewalk and vice versa.

The different parts of the most common type of curb ramp, a perpendicular curb ramp, are labeled in the illustration below. The ramp, or ramp run, is the sloped section that individuals who use wheelchairs travel up and down when transitioning between the street and the sidewalk. Transitions between the ramp and the sidewalk, gutter and street are located at the top and bottom of the ramp run. Flared sides, or flares, bring the curb itself to the level of the street. The gutter is the roadway surface immediately next to the curb ramp that runs along the curb.