Accessible Sidewalks and Street Crossings - An Informational Guide

Author(s):

Boodlal, Leverson, PE

Organization:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration

Publisher/Date:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration

Rating:

Very Useful

Abstract:

This monograph is a short summary of the laws and guidelines covering accessible pedestrian routes and street crossings and should be used a primer by any and all that have to do with the pedestrian realm -- advocates, planners, designers and engineers, and even construction foreman. While the intent of the guide is to focus on accessibility design parameters and issues, the monograph continually stresses inclusive design. It berates the use of the "standard pedestrian" which leaves out a large portion of the population, often those that are most limited in their choices for travel and who most rely on the pedestrian environment. Although very short in length, the summary touches on the full range of pedestrians in the public right of way. There is a page listing the half-dozen federal laws and regulations, two pages about understanding pedestrians where inclusiveness is stressed, and another two pages describing the parts of, and uses of the sidewalk.

The remainder of the book covers performance criteria for elements affecting accessibility such as grades, cross slopes, surfaces, protruding objects, driveways, curb ramps, detectable warnings, and finally accessible pedestrian signals.Accessible Sidewalks and Street Crossings has been listed as a Key Resource because of its richness in telling how things work and how other things don't work. The two pages on the pros and cons of curb ramp designs is as good as any discussion in the literature. On the negative side, when prescriptive criteria are given, they are not always stated as best practices but sometimes give the minimums as the criterion. In the driveway section, for instance, the apron is shown going halfway across the sidewalk as long as there is the 4-foot passage at the top.

Number of Pages:

31

Link:

Accessible Sidewalks and Street Crossings - an informational guide (PDF) (www.activelivingresources.org/assets/ADA_FHWA.pdf)

Table of Contents?

Yes

Index?

No

Illustrations?

Yes

Material Type:

Journal Article, Brochure

Notes:

Key Resource as background for advocates, planners, designers and engineers, and even construction foreman.

Key Document?

Yes

Categories:

National Guidelines, Advocacy, Planning, Schematic Design, Construction, Maintenance

Keywords:

Accessibility, Sidewalks, Street Crossings

Strengths:

• Valuable source of what folks interested in pedestrians are up against.
• Its brevity.
• Performance criteria with rationale allows a designer to improvise.

Weaknesses:

• Sometimes allows minimums to appear as best practice.
• On occasion, tries to supplant the regulatory guidelines.

Suggestions for Future Editions:

Re-write using best practice as criteria, pushing regulatory dimensions as secondary sources. Better yet, remove the regulatory requirements entirely and let the professionals look up the regulation if they don't want to follow best practices.

Disseminate free to all professionals designing street systems and to all municipal transportation departments/public works departments.

Record Last Updated:

July 2006