1. Journal of Public Works & Infrastructure Volume 2 Number 3
Asset management for ADA compliance
using advanced technologies
Franz Loewenherz
Received: 6th October, 2009
City of Bellevue, Transportation Department, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98009, USA
Tel: +1 425 452 4077; E-mail: floewenherz@bellevuewa.gov
Franz Loewenherz has more than 18 years evaluation update to assess its programme
of transportation industry experience responsibilities for existing pedestrian facilities
working in both the public and private in the public rights-of-way. The City
sectors. In his current position as a senior employed innovative technologies to document
transportation planner with the City of Bel- barriers and prioritise improvements where
levue, Washington, he is involved in a most needed. Implementation of this technology
wide range of planning assignments development and compliance effort involved a
including the light rail route extension coordinated staffing and funding commitment
from Seattle to Bellevue, the City’s pedes- from the City of Bellevue, Federal Highway
trian and bicycle master plan, and corri- Administration and King County, with techni-
dor studies that assess land use and cal support from Starodub Inc., an engineering
transportation interactions. He is project services firm. This case study examines one
manager of the City of Bellevue’s Ameri- medium-sized city’s approach to conducting a
cans with Disabilities (ADA) sidewalk and comprehensive asset data inventory and pedes-
kerb ramp inventory. trian facility condition assessment.
ABSTRACT Keywords: ADA, sidewalk, kerb
The Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 ramp, inventory, inertial profiler
(ADA), is a landmark civil rights law that technology
prohibits discrimination based on disability.
Title II of the ADA requires state and local INTRODUCTION[ED1]
governments to make their programmes and ser- The City of Bellevue is a community of
vices accessible to persons with disabilities. 120,000 residents. According to the 2000
This requirement extends not only to physical census, approximately 15 per cent of Belle-
access at government facilities, programmes and vue residents live with a developmental,
events — but also to pedestrian facilities in physical and/or mental disability. Building
public rights-of-way. To comply with the pedestrian facilities now and for the future
ADA, every state and local government is means taking into consideration not only
required to prepare a self-evaluation report to the reported disabilities of residents but
identify programme access issues. From this, a also the physical and cognitive changes
transition plan is required, with a schedule that many individuals experience over the
identifying corrective measures to achieve a bar- course of their lifetimes. Looking to the Journal of Public Works &
Infrastructure
rier-free environment. In 2008, Bellevue under- future, an increased percentage of the Vol. 2, No. 3, 2009, pp. 00–00
# Henry Stewart Publications,
took an ADA sidewalk and kerb ramp self- population with disabilities is expected as 1755–0955
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2. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
the category of citizens 75 years of age and disabilities to reach their desired destina-
older is growing at a rate more than four tions in the community and to enjoy the
times as fast as the general population in benefits of city services, programmes and
Bellevue. It is estimated that 85 per cent of activities. Where sidewalks are provided,
Americans who live to their full life expec- public agencies are required to ensure that
tancy will suffer a permanent disability. continuous, unobstructed sidewalks are
The City of Bellevue has a long and dis- maintained in operable working condition.
tinguished history of working to address This guidance is supported by a steady
the transportation needs of its residents stream of cases interpreting ADA provi-
with disabilities. On 16th November, sions.
1992, the Bellevue Council adopted Reso- On 22nd January, 2004, in the case of
lution 5586, establishing a programme to Barden v Sacramento, the 9th Circuit Court
promote full participation for all people ruled that sidewalks were a ‘programme’
who use the City’s services and pro- under ADA and must be made accessible
grammes. In April 1997, Bellevue received to persons with disabilities. Prior to this
a Certificate of Appreciation from the decision, it was commonly understood that
Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues the minimum requirement for achieving
and Employment. The award focused on programme accessibility, in an existing
making facilities accessible, addressing public right-of-way that is not otherwise
access barriers to internal and external cus- being altered, was through the installation
tomers, and providing flexibility in the of kerb ramps at locations where existing
workplace. pedestrian walkways cross kerbs. The
The City of Bellevue remains com- court decision in the Barden case relied
mitted to ensuring that the civil rights of upon the language in ADA regulations
people with disabilities are preserved and requiring city ADA transition plans to
that it complies with regulations stipulated include a schedule for the installation of
in the Americans with Disabilities Act kerb ramps at intersections, holding that
1990 (ADA). Bellevue’s comprehensive this requirement would be meaningless if
plan (Policy TR-26) directs staff to: the sidewalks between kerb ramps were
inaccessible. The Barden decision made
‘address the special needs of physically clear that public entities are required to
challenged and disabled citizens in invest in the repair of public sidewalks and
planning, designing, implementing, and maintain them free from barriers, physical
maintaining transportation improve- defects and other conditions that may deny
ments, particularly non-motorised pedestrians with disabilities access to side-
improvements, and other transportation walks.
facilities, and in delivering transportation Ignoring the law can be expensive now
services and programmes, in accordance that it is understood that pedestrian paths
with the Americans with Disabilities fall under ADA. In 2007, the City of Chi-
Act’. cago settled one of the largest ADA cases
in history, agreeing to spend US$10m a
This policy commitment is carried forward year for five years on sidewalk accessibil-
in all phases of project and service develop- ity, in addition to the US$18m it spends
ment provision. annually on sidewalk maintenance.
Furthermore, poorly maintained pedestrian
ADA COMPLIANCE infrastructure can lead to expensive perso-
Accessible sidewalks enable people with nal injury lawsuits.
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3. Goodger, Parker and Guy
PROJECT APPROACH data quickly, the ‘yes/no’ clipboard
In 2008, Bellevue undertook an ADA side- approach does not offer a precise under-
walk and kerb ramp self-evaluation update standing of which areas have the most
to assess its programme accessibility need.
responsibilities for existing pedestrian facil- Bellevue determined that a new solution
ities in the public rights-of-way. The pro- to quickly and accurately document the
ject followed a three-phased approach: (i) type, severity, and location of sidewalk
data collection; (ii) database analysis; and and ramp barriers in the City would be
(iii) barrier ranking. As indicated in Figure most efficient. A number of options were
1, the self-evaluation process involved the considered for gathering data on its 321
disability community in the identification miles of sidewalk and 4,586 kerb ramps
of priorities for improving pedestrian locations (1,041 locations lacked ramp
accessibility in Bellevue. access), including traditional survey and
light detection and ranging. Based on early
Phase 1: Data collection tests, the City concluded that either of
The traditional ADA inventory process is these approaches could cost more than
time-consuming and imprecise. Most juris- US$1m.
dictions undertaking ADA sidewalk and City staff learned about inertial profiler
kerb ramp inventory efforts rely on data systems, which have used to measure pave-
collectors to choose between a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ ment defects since the 1970s. Profilers are
response in recording ADA compliance. typically mounted on motor vehicles and
While this enables jurisdictions to collect used in both the aerospace and roadway
Figure 1[ed11]: Visual representation of Bellevue’s project approach
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4. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
construction industries for measuring the surface variations that can make a sidewalk
smoothness of pavement surfaces on air- difficult to navigate. A tray and handle-bar
craft landing strips and the highway mount support a notebook computer that
system. An interdepartmental team at the offers an interactive, real-time display
City of Bellevue partnered with federal during data collection. The accompanying
and regional agencies to adapt this profiler software produces a text file compatible
technology to the task of inventorying and with the City’s geographic information
mapping the degree to which sidewalks systems (GIS) asset management database.
and kerb ramps in the City’s right-of-way Bellevue staff worked with colleagues at
meet ADA standards. the FHWA and King County to ensure
The technology, developed through a that the resulting technology would be of
pilot programme with the Federal High- broad benefit to federal, state and local
way Administration (FHWA), uses an government entities. From a cost savings
ultra-light inertial profiler (ULIP) perspective, the total project expense of
mounted on a Segway scooter (Figure 2). US$285,000 in staffing, software and hard-
The device’s displacement laser, three ware reflects a 70 per cent saving over the
accelerometers, optical trigger, distance amount originally estimated to conduct a
measurement instrument, and gyroscope traditional survey or light detection and
are designed to measure the sidewalk sur- ranging approach. Specific partnership
face at a rate of 10,000 records per second. contributions included:
Together, these devices capture highly-
accurate information about slope and small . City of Bellevue: Staff in both the trans-
portation and IT departments collabo-
Figure 2: City of Bellevue’s ULIP and Segway rated in overseeing this project. Staff
human transporter equipment managed the three-agency partnership,
field-tested the technology, verified
results using other measurement
systems, collaborated with FHWA and
Starodub, Inc. engineers to refine the
software, and developed programming
scripts that synthesise ULIP data records
into the city’s GIS system. These
staffing costs were US$70,000.
. Federal Highway Administration: The
FHWA is responsible for ensuring
access for persons with disabilities to
pedestrian facilities within the public
right-of-way. The Office of Pavement
Technology agreed to have Starodub,
Inc. fabricate the ULIP (at an estimated
cost of US$120,000) in 2006. The
device was loaned to Bellevue at no
cost to the city. FHWA provided an
additional US$50,000 in 2007 for
software refinements.
. King County: As a transit operator in
the region, King County is responsible
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5. Goodger, Parker and Guy
for the provision of ADA kerb-to- kerb measurement devices, such as digital
paratransit service as a safety net for smart-level readings, before a decision was
persons whose disabilities prevent use of made to employ this technology citywide
accessible non-commuter, fixed-route (see Figure 3).
bus service. The Department of Acces- During the 2008 citywide inventory
sible Services regards the data generated effort, the city employed quality assurance/
from the ULIP technology as saving quality control (QA/QC) protocol for
time and money they would otherwise validation testing of the software and hard-
spend conducting accessible pathway ware. The ULIP technology’s efficacy was
assessments. For the opportunity to confirmed in 2008, when two field techni-
partner in Bellevue’s research cians were able to inventory the city’s
endeavour, King County provided entire pedestrian system within a few
US$45,000 to support the two staff months’ time. One technician operated the
members involved in the inventory ULIP and conducted the sidewalk inven-
process and assisted with the public tory (321 miles), and a second technician
outreach process. rode a bicycle and used a Topcon GMS-2
handheld GPS receiver to conduct the
Because it was a new technology, the City kerb ramp inventory (4,586 locations).
of Bellevue sought confirmation that the The National Cooperative Highway
data acquired from the ULIP platform Research Program’s ADA Compliance at
would be reproducible and accurate. Transportation Agencies: A Review of Prac-
During the 2007 trial period, Bellevue and tices identifies the technical precision
Starodub, Inc. staff undertook numerous offered by Bellevue’s approach as a best
tests comparing grade and cross-slope mea- practice. The report notes that ‘efforts such
surements from the ULIP and alternative as those at the City of Bellevue, Washing-
Figure 3: Validation testing graph showing very good agreement between the ULIP (four runs) and
smart-level data
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6. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
ton, that rely on the collection of large first step in arriving at these site-specific
datasets at extremely fine spatial and tem- calculations.
poral disaggregation levels have the poten- During the data-processing step, the user
tial to significantly automate the specifies the grade and cross-slope window
identification of non-compliant locations size in feet to be applied in a moving aver-
in the field’.1 age computation to the ASCII text files
from the ULIP data acquisition. Figure 4
Phase 2: Database analysis shows the resulting grade ranges corre-
The City of Bellevue’s ADA sidewalk and sponding to ten window sizes. As indi-
kerb ramp database provides geographic cated, the most pronounced sidewalk
data with both positional accuracy — the profile values are noted when the window
digital representation of how a barrier con- size is in the 300–600 mm (1–2 ft) range.
forms to the actual location found in the In this test site, one can see that with a
field (better than what is possible with 300–600 mm (1–2 ft) window size, the
streaming GPS); and attribute accuracy — grade value approaches 8 per cent. The
the digital representation of a barrier is larger the window size value, the more
represented in a manner consistent with dampened out the features of the sidewalk
actual conditions found in the field (per- profile. So, at a 15 m (50-ft) window size,
centage running slope, percentage cross- the test site appears to have a flat grade
slope, inches of vertical separation, etc). profile.
Defining the window size (travel length Guidance in defining the window size
for computing representative measure- over which to assess the data was found in
ment) for data processing was a critical the FHWA’s Designing Sidewalks and Trails
Figure 4: The effects of different grade windows on data output values
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7. Goodger, Parker and Guy
for Access. This report advises that grade review of data.
and cross-slope ‘should be measured over GIS played a pivotal role in the project
2-ft [600 mm] intervals, the approximate from data acquisition (organising the mil-
length of a wheelchair wheelbase, or a lions of data points generated during the
single walking pace’.2 Adherence to the study) to creating a web-based mapping
FHWA interpretation of features in the interface for asset management and com-
data set provided quality assurance in the pliance monitoring. The resulting ADA
attribute accuracy of the resulting database. sidewalk and kerb ramp self-evaluation is
Once the field data collection and valid- documented on the City’s intranet. This
ity checks were performed, it was neces- internal web interface maps all non-stan-
sary for the raw data to be processed so dard data points related to kerb ramp loca-
the data could be stored in the City’s cen- tion and compliance rating — at the
tralised GIS database for analysis and block-face level — including sidewalk
reporting. To facilitate the data conver- obstructions, heaving, running slope and
sion, Bellevue staff created Python scripts cross-slope (Figure 5). Additional function-
and tools using linear referencing to pro- ality of this geospatial database includes the
cess ULIP raw data into a useful GIS form. ability to search and/or turn off certain
Automating the process with scripts and barrier types and generate reports of the
custom interfaces was important both to barrier information.
limit manual efforts and to allow for daily The ADA viewer interface creates a
Figure 5: City of Bellevue’s web-based ADA mapping viewer interface
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8. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
platform from which staff can retrieve . Sidewalk maintenance and repair
information on ADA barriers in the public programme: The streets division
right-of-way, informing the following personnel clear vegetation and debris
accessibility programmes: from sidewalks adjacent to arterial
streets, inspect sidewalks for damage,
. New development: New development or and when needed, repair walkways.
redevelopment projects must include
sidewalks and kerb ramps. Phase 3: Barrier ranking
. Citizen request programme: Citizens The ADA guidelines indicate which fea-
submit requests to have a new kerb tures in the public rights-of-way are non-
ramp installed or have an existing kerb standard but do not say which of these
ramp repaired at any location within non-standard features should be replaced
the City. first. After determining which facilities do
. Annual installation, repair, and mainte- not meet standards, the City developed a
nance programme: The City’s transporta- prioritised list of improvement require-
tion department repairs sidewalks and ments in conjunction with the disability
installs new kerb ramps annually as part community (Figure 6).
of routine maintenance. Bellevue’s GIS-based barrier ranking
. Street-related capital improvement projects: analysis results in a combined activity and
Sidewalks and/or kerb ramps are impedance score for every sidewalk and
installed and/or repaired in all street- kerb ramp in Bellevue. A high activity
related capital improvement projects (eg score is representative of areas where
street widening or other street pedestrian activity (especially among per-
upgrades). sons with disabilities) is likely to be great-
. Overlay construction projects: The City est, based on demographic, land use and
includes the installation of kerb ramps transportation conditions. A high impe-
as part of street overlay projects. dance score is representative of areas where
Figure 6: Criteria influencing the barrier ranking scores. Bellevue used GIS to overlap data layers,
each representing one of several characteristics, and determine the cumulative intensity of all
characteristics throughout the city.
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9. Goodger, Parker and Guy
the quality of existing pedestrian infra- detailed information on these and other
structure is poor for persons with disabil- ADA considerations can be found at
ities, based on barriers documented in the http://www.bellevuewa.gov/accessibility-
sidewalk and kerb ramp inventory. The reports.htm):
key principle here is to assign a high rank-
ing on a needs basis, not necessarily to the . Sidewalk cross-slope: As indicated in
sidewalks and kerb ramps in the worst Table 2, over 50 per cent of Bellevue’s
condition but rather to those that would cross-slope measurements 8 per cent are
provide the most benefit to people with attributable to driveway aprons. This
disabilities. number increases as cross-slope values
The point values assigned to the various increase, with 70 per cent of cross-slope
non-standard features in the impedance measurements 10 per cent attributable to
calculation arose from consultations with driveway aprons. Overall, 19 per cent of
members of the disability community in all non-standard cross-slope measure-
Bellevue. The outreach effort included sur- ments are attributable to driveway
veys, focus groups, public meetings and aprons constructed like ramps, with
conversations with residents at sidewalk steep, short side flares (Table 2).
and kerb ramp locations. . Sidewalk grade (running slope): According
to ADA Accessibility Guidelines
RESULTS (ADAAG), the sidewalk grade should
Bellevue’s pedestrian facilities are evaluated not exceed 5 per cent. However, grades
against a number of ADA standards in the are often too difficult to control in the
City’s sidewalk and kerb ramp self-evalua- sidewalk environment because sidewalks
tion report. The following are the grade follow the path of the street and the
and cross-slope accessibility considerations: natural topography of the area. Belle-
(i) maximum grade is 5 per cent on con- vue’s GIS database played a pivotal role
tinuous runs; (ii) sidewalks adjacent to in determining which of the non-
existing roadways may follow grade of standard sidewalk grade profiles were
roadway; and (iii) cross-slope shall not deemed technically infeasible due to
exceed 2 per cent. As reflected in Table 1, topographic roadway factors. Bellevue
32 miles (82 per cent) of non-standard staff developed a GIS script that enabled a
grade measurements are found to have comparison of every non-standard
profiles of 5–8.33 per cent. Below are sidewalk segment to the grade of the
some of the findings on grade and cross- adjacent roadway. Adjacent roadway
slope from the inventory effort (more grade profiles were derived from a digital
elevation model, a representation of
ground surface topography. Criteria
Table 1: Results of sidewalk cross-slope ana- were then used to filter out 95 miles of
lysis non-standard sidewalk grade locations
deemed technically infeasible. Bellevue’s
Grade category Length (miles) % decision to screen profile data is consistent
with currently recommended best
5–8.33% 32 82
practices from the US Access Board and
8.34–10% 4 10
FHWA to make allowances for the
10.01–12.5% 2 5
12.5%+ 1 3 sidewalk grade of the associated roadway.
Total 39 100 . Kerb ramp panel grade and cross-slope:
Table 3 reflects the combined grade and
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10. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
Table 2: Results of sidewalk grade analysis
Cross slope within Cross slope without
Cross slope Total length Driveway Buffer Driveways % Attributable
category (miles) (miles) (differences) Driveways
2–4% 134 18 116 13
4–6% 49 9 41 17
6–8% 15 5 10 31
8–10% 7 4 3 54
10%+ 7 5 2 70
Total 212 40 172 19
Table 3: Results of kerb ramp grade and cross-slope analysis
Ramp running slope
<8.3% 8.3%–10% >10%
Ramp cross slope (Standard) (Non-standard) (Non-standard) Totals
<2% (Standard) 502 (14%) 224 (6%) 369 (11%) 1,095 (31%)
2%–4% (Non-standard) 459 (13%) 209 (6%) 338 (10%) 1,006 (29%)
>4% (Non-standard) 564 (16%) 253 (20%) 1,300 (37%) 1,410 (100%)
Totals 1,525 (43%) 686 (20%) 1,300 (37%) 3,511 (100%)
cross-slope statistics for Bellevue’s kerb ramp facilities. Data collected from
existing 3,511 kerb ramps. As indicated, this assessment enable city staff to: (i)
502 (14 per cent) kerb ramps in Bellevue determine if a sidewalk or kerb ramp
were found to have both a standard meets intended design specifications and
running slope (<8.3 per cent) and guidelines; (ii) catalogue feature and main-
standard cross-slope (<2 per cent). At tenance information; (iii) identify portions
the opposite end of the spectrum, 593 of sidewalks needing accessibility improve-
(17 per cent) kerb ramps in Bellevue ments; (iv) quantify the extent of the work
were found to have both high running required; and, (v) add pedestrian informa-
slope (>10 per cent) and high cross- tion to the City’s GIS database. The barrier
slope (>4 per cent). Feedback from the ranking analysis used in this process was
disability community indicates that the product of a public consultation pro-
‘warp’ (the combined effect of high cross cess, which the City believes reflects the
and running slopes) negatively impacts interests of Bellevue residents and responds
accessibility. to the stated needs of people with disabil-
ities in the community.
NEXT STEPS The development of Bellevue’s ADA
Bellevue’s ADA sidewalk and kerb ramp transition plan update relies heavily on the
self-evaluation report is a comprehensive barrier identification and rankings con-
analysis of the city’s existing sidewalk and tained in the sidewalk and kerb ramp self-
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11. Goodger, Parker and Guy
evaluation. Transportation staff have been approaching their ADA compliance pro-
working to complete the department’s gramme:
transition plan update process by Spring
2010. To do this, key assumptions regard- . The ADA provides comprehensive civil
ing barrier prioritisation, corrective action right protection to individuals with
costs, programming, and supportive poli- disabilities. ADA Title II requires every
cies need to be evaluated and documented. state and local government to prepare a
Once completed, the transportation self-evaluation plan to identify
department’s transition plan update for the programme access issues. From this, a
public rights-of-way will be integrated transition plan is required showing
into the citywide transition plan that policies and practices to achieve a
addresses the other key areas of ADA barrier-free environment. Failure to
accessibility: access to public facilities and manage ADA compliance properly has
to city programmes and services. Comple- prompted action by the Department of
tion of the update to the citywide transi- Justice and proven costly to many cities
tion plan is anticipated in 2010. throughout the country due to an
The relationship between the self-eva- increasing amount of litigation.
luation report and the ADA transition plan . Public works departments are facing
is illustrated in Figure 7. increased pressure to determine cost-
effective and efficient methods for
LESSONS LEARNED compliance with ADA accessibility
The following information is intended to standards. Because agencies at all levels
assist other local government agencies are required to respond to ADA
Figure 7: The relationship between the self-evaluation report and the ADA transition plan
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12. Asset management for ADA compliance using advanced technologies
mandates, developing partnerships outreach effort that provided a wide
increases the cost-effectiveness of range of stakeholders from the disability
compliance efforts. The coordinated community with improved access to
staffing and funding commitment from the decision-making process. This
the three participating agencies approach to community engagement is
(FWHA, King County and the City of consistent with ADA Title II guidance
Bellevue) made it possible to undertake requiring governmental entities to
Bellevue’s proposal to assess the applic- ‘provide opportunity to interested
ability of inertial profiling technology persons and groups to participate in
in identifying existing facilities that self-evaluation leading to transition
limit access for persons with disabilities. plan’.
. As a new technology, the City of . GIS played a pivotal role in the project
Bellevue sought confirmation that data from data acquisition (ie organising the
acquired from the ULIP platform were millions of data points generated during
repeatable, reproducible and accurate. the study) to project prioritisation (ie
Numerous tests were carried out determining priorities for improve-
comparing grade and cross-slope ments and displaying the corresponding
measurements from the ULIP and alter- locations on a variety of mapping inter-
native measurement devices (eg digital faces). The result is a mapping interface
smart-level readings). Bellevue and on the City’s intranet that documents
FHWA staff undertook a rigorous all non-standard data points related to
review of the data before a decision was sidewalks and kerb ramps. The ADA
made to employ this technology in a viewer interface creates a platform from
citywide inventory effort. During the which city staff can retrieve information
citywide inventory effort, the city on barriers in the public right-of-way,
employed QA/QC protocol for valida- informing the City’s corrective
tion testing of the software/hardware measures on where to make repairs to
equipment. sidewalks and kerb ramps.
. After several years in development, . The City is using the data from the self-
Bellevue’s ULIP is the first technology evaluation inventory to program
of its kind that enables jurisdictions to needed implementation resources
complete an ADA condition assessment through the ADA transition plan time
inventory quickly and accurately. Belle- horizon. A number of mechanisms are
vue’s project — identified as a best in place to make sidewalks accessible to
practice in Asset Management Approaches people with disabilities, including
to ADA Compliance — is distinguished sidewalk maintenance, kerb ramp
from the efforts of other jurisdictions retrofit and pavement overlay
because actual values for running slope, programmes. In addition, the City is
cross-slope and vertical separation are incorporating ADA improvements into
captured along sidewalk block-faces its capital projects and as permit condi-
rather than by field staff quickly traver- tions for development.
sing a sidewalk network, determining . The rewards of ADA compliance come
compliance through a simplistic ‘yes/no’ in many forms, not least of which is
evaluation. establishing an accessible community
. Bellevue’s self-evaluation report and that provides the public, including
transition planning efforts were persons with disabilities, with access to
informed by an extensive public the transportation network and
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13. Goodger, Parker and Guy
independent mobility regardless of age,
physical constraint or income. Pedes-
trian facilities are an essential part of the
community infrastructure that indivi- ___________________________
duals use to gain access to the goods, 1Please check all figures have been
services and social contacts that support appropriately cited in the text (NB Figs 7-
their day-to-day existence and quality 9 renumbered as tables, as per journal
of life. People with disabilities are better style)
able to participate in the community if
sidewalks and kerb ramps are accessible 2TS: Figure 1 near here
because it is easier for them to reach 3TS: Figure 2 near here
their desired destinations. 4TS: Figure 3 near here
5TS: Figure 4 near here
REFERENCES 6TS: Figure 5 near here
1 National Cooperative Highway Research 7TS: Figure 6 near here
Program (2008) ‘ADA Compliance at 8TS: Table 1 near here
Transportation Agencies: A Review of 9TS: Table 3 near here
Practices’, NCHRP 20-07 Task 249, Trans- 10TS: Figure 7 near here
portation Research Board, Washington, 11Hi-res jpgs required for all artwork
DC, available at: http://www.trb.org/
NotesDocs/20-07(249)_FR.pdf (accessed
16th December, 2009).
2 Kirschbaum, J. B. et al. (1999) ‘Designing
Sidewalks and Trails for Access’, Federal
Highway Administration, Washington,
DC, available at: http://www.fhwa.dot.-
gov/environment/sidewalks/ (accessed 16th
December, 2009).
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