Expanding Your Market: Maintaining Accessible Features in Retail Establishments

Accessible Parking

Clearing snow from all elements of an accessible parking space is essential to keeping it usable.

In order for an accessible parking space to be usable, all elements of the space must be free of obstructions: the vehicle space, the access aisle, the curb ramp, and the route that connects the parking to the accessible entrance of the building. Lack of maintenance of any one of those elements can make the whole space inaccessible. For example, for a wheelchair user to exit her car, she must place her wheelchair in the access aisle, transfer from the car seat to her wheelchair, and then roll backward in the access aisle to provide clearance to close the car door. If another car parks in the aisle or if a plow loads the aisle with snow, the wheelchair user does not have sufficient room to get out of her car. That parking space the owner just paid to have correctly restriped is now useless to her.

Maintenance List

• Remove obstacles, including shopping carts, maintenance equipment, and cars without designated license plates or placards, from parking spaces and access aisles as soon as possible.

• Clear completely snow, ice, mud, and leaves from accessible parking spaces whenever plowing or clearing the rest of the parking area. Be sure that cleaning crews do not pile snow or gravel in the accessible parking spaces, access aisles, and curb ramps.

• Maintain curb ramps and sidewalks to prevent large cracks and uneven surfaces from forming.

• Keep the accessible route from the parking area to the store's entrance clear of obstacles that either block or narrow the route.