ADA – Page 3 – Public Works Group Blog

July 8, 2011July 8, 2011

Climbing the Uphill Battle for ADA on a Non-compliant Curb Ramp

My primary involvement in ADA has been as an engineer designing and building infrastructure in the right of way and in years past, as a building inspector approving private development. During my career, I have always made a dedicated effort to learn about and meet the requirements of this federal law. But it's been a challenge shared by many other building and design professionals due to the lack of guidance materials and solid instruction from federal and state agencies. Fortunately over the last year that has changed for us in Illinois with state and federal agencies providing more training. But as frustrating as it has been for us, I can't begin to imagine how it is for those who have a disability and need to use these facilities. And today, I came up against another completely unbelievable hurdle.

The law was passed in 1990, and it has taken 20 years for the design community to receive clear guidance on how to comply with the law. The effect this seems to have had is that many engineers look upon the law as a joke thinking why comply – next year federal and state agencies will change it again. Or they ignore it or only partially comply because it must not be important enough if it has taken this long to put achievable guidelines in place. And they do not normally interact with the community most affected to see the impact of their decisions.

So one hurdle is just convincing engineers they need to follow the law. Our state has come out with the opinion that if a professional engineer knowingly designs or builds or approves a non-compliant ramp, they will pursue taking away their license. This is serious for someone who relies on the license for their job. Yet, when I share this with other engineers they do not believe it or think it could happen.

Fortunately there are engineers out there who do care and try to comply. I wonder sometimes what makes the difference. For myself, my dedication has built up over time as I better understood the requirements and particularly as I began to interact with those who have disabilities. They have really been the ones who helped me understand the importance of each regulation. Not complying does truly cause them hardship and at times it is painful and severe. It makes me wonder if we should be requiring a certification for ADA design that includes training and interaction with disability communities and groups.

Anyway, as difficult as all that has been to work through, today I got a call from a couple in our city complaining about a curb ramp we installed. They didn't like the design because they felt it would make it difficult to mow. I had tried to explain in two emails and out on the site that we were obligated to construct the ramp in that manner due to federal law. That the city risked liability and loss of use of road funds for highway improvements should we choose to ignore the law. And I added the part about losing my license. But they would have none of that. They questioned why other ramps are non-compliant, but it's difficult to convey how and why we got to this point over 20 years in just a few minutes. So they could not understand.

But in the end, I could tell by their attitudes, the bottom line for these people was that they were going to force the city to put in a ramp they liked no matter what. They obviously had total disregard for the law and our need to comply. They even threatened calling the newspaper and the state of Illinois to "tell on us." Which didn't make sense to me – were they going to tell them we put in a compliant ramp they don't like? Of course both they and their child had no visible disabilities.

All I could think was if I feel this frustrated and helpless just trying to build compliant infrastructure, how must someone feel who has to try to use non-compliant infrastructure? I can't even imagine telling someone with a disability, we chose not to comply with the law because these people thought it would cause them some difficulty in mowing around the ramp. We might be able to some day have designers on board, but how will we ever get healthy people with no disabilities to accept the need for compliance when all they care about is not having a minor inconvenience in mowing? And how can people have such total disregard for others?

December 7, 2008July 2, 2010

Visualizing the ADA in 3-D

Tired of trying to get a curb ramp built that meets the ADA? Instead of photos of your kids are you carrying around pictures of a compliant curb ramp to show the contractor? Join the club – ever since the curb ramp section of the ADA was finalized, sidewalk design and construction have never been the same. The basic concept is simple; the need is imperative. However, getting it to all fit existing conditions and educating the contractor about the requirements have been the stumbling blocks.

This is why the Public Works Resource Center in Second Life has started a project to develop 3-D visualizations of the design solutions presented in the following Special Report: Accessible Public Rights-of-Way Planning and Design for Alterations, developed by PROWAAC. Perhaps seeing the designs in 3-D in a virtual environment can enhance the understanding of these regulations.

3-D Visualization of the Design Solution 1.01 in the PROWAAC Report

Some other ideas for using virtual worlds to increase understanding of the ADA requirements are:

Creating a virtual build of the existing conditions to try out different ideas. If this was built in a community area, others could come by and offer input and help working with a method similar to that of the Wikitecture project.

For training purposes, educators could build sample intersections and have students place pre-made components to show their understanding of the regulations.

For now, as each 3-D build becomes available, it will be added to a design solution libraries at the Public Works Resource Center in Second Life.

February 22, 2007September 6, 2010

Totally Missing the Point

On a trip to an establishment in aÂ neighboring city, I noticed the ramp shown above. Something did not look right, and upon further inspection, I realized the curb was not depressed. With theÂ implementationÂ of the final decision concerning ramp design, I have been trying toÂ go out of my way to check out the ramps in other communities. I realized there hasÂ been some confusion and lack of knowledgeÂ concerning theÂ regulations and requirements governing ramp construction, butÂ I never thought I would see someone put in the detectable warnings but not depress the curb. What were they thinking while they were pouring the detectable warning pads?Â

I suppose someone could have thought that putting in detectable warningsÂ prior to all roadway crossings, accessibleÂ or not, is a great idea.Â The problem is that due to the ADA regulation, people with reduced eyesight will reach this and expect a ramp with a depressed curb.Â This will confuse the pedestrian and could perhaps cause injury.

Clearly there is still a significant lack of training and education surrounding curb ramp construction.Â On publicly funded jobs, the engineer can be more involved and ensure that the requirements are being met. On privately funded projects where there may be no oversight by an engineer or architect, theÂ owner is relying on the contractorÂ to meet the requirements.

Last year, IÂ was called to a new subdivision under construction because the developer wasÂ forming the publicÂ sidewalk and trying to conform to the ADA requirements that I had givenÂ him related to cross slope. A driveway had been poured from the private garage to the curb, through the area of the sidewalk, and the contractor for the homeowner had not met the ADA-mandated cross slope of 2% through theÂ sidewalk area. The developer was having to match the nonconforming cross slope with his new sidewalk. I suggested he contact the driveway contractor to work this out. That driveway contractor called me and was extremely agitated. He felt it was the city’s responsibility to keep him informed about every federal, state, and local regulation that governed his work. Of course,Â it was all the city’s fault in his mind.Â Â Â

I do think that public works professionals can educate to some degree but with reduced staff and funding at all levels of government, there is only so much we can do. There have been a few good articlesÂ published over the last year or so that areÂ related to this subject:

Public Works Magazine, “Ramping up for Compliance”

APWA Reporter, “Is there a compliant curb ramp out there?”