 Program number one accessible sidewalks design issues for pedestrians who use wheelchairs this runs 10 minutes with Dennis Cannon of the Access Board and Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. Almost everyone becomes a pedestrian at some point during the day whether you're in the city or the suburbs this probably involves the use of sidewalks pretty routine stuff but for people in wheelchairs sidewalk and crosswalk design can't be taken for granted it's not as simple as putting in a curb ramp or two hi I'm Dennis Cannon an accessibility specialist for the Access Board in Washington DC the Access Board is the federal agency responsible for developing accessibility guidelines under the ADA and other laws in my own daily commute to and from work I run into a number of design flaws that illustrate the kind of obstacles faced by wheelchair users so my colleague Marilyn and I went out to document these problems so designers and engineers like you could have a visual record of sidewalk and curb ramp design that will help ensure easy access for everybody Marilyn uses a manual wheelchair which is more maneuverable and smaller but is less stable than the heavier more powerful battery powered chair that I use here she demonstrates that although a curb ramp may be in place to give access to a raised sidewalk the ramp itself may not be designed as well as it could be here Marilyn's front wheels hit the lip at the base you can see the instability of manual chairs especially in the front wheels she usually has to shift her balance back and pop her front wheels up over snags like this this is really an unproductive use of energy and not everybody has the strength to make this effort here's another bumpy curb ramp this time the top of the ramp is cracked and Marilyn's wheels get caught so while exerting extra effort to get up the ramp she has to contend with bumps as well this is a problem of both design and maintenance it's not as simple as making the curb ramp smooth though cross slope on curb ramps also affects the stability of a wheelchair here's a sidewalk I take to get to the subway every day it crosses the entrance to a parking lot naturally the entrance is sloped to accommodate the cars but this means the sidewalk is sloped and the ramps at either end have a cross slope you can see how Marilyn's balance is thrown off and how much extra effort she must expand to counteract the side slope the cross slope in combination with the severe grade of the ramp makes even a heavier power chair feel unstable notice the jarring of my body transitions like this can be painful especially for persons with brittle bones quadriplegia and other conditions and if you have low upper body strength you may lose your balance simple solution provide access from the sidewalk to the flat area at the top of the driveway or set the sidewalk back from the street a running slope in one direction is a cross slope in another it's tough to ascend one curb ramp and bypass the neighboring curb ramp notice how I have to keep to the top edge of the ramp intersection to keep from tipping with these cross slopes and the bulging sidewalk joint right after I get shaken pretty good these different slopes are an even bigger problem for Marilyn here her front wheel comes completely off the ground if she leans the wrong way she'll lose traction in her rear wheels Marilyn works out so cross slopes aren't as much of a problem for her but if you're not looking for a workout these intersecting ramps are a pain and then the raised sidewalk joint makes further problems for her whether it's a wheelchair a stroller or even the delivery cart one solution is to provide a level landing at the top of each ramp for turning or bypassing it entirely this next one takes it a step further a three-way intersection three different slopes I have two problems to deal with first I have to take the top of the intersection to keep from tipping but unfortunately my heavy power chair I call it the ATV of wheelchairs needs to make wide turns so maneuvering is tough the manual chair is better at making those tighter turns but increased maneuverability also means a tippier chair see how often one of Marilyn's front wheels is off the ground her stability is drastically affected by the compound slopes imagine trying this in rain or snow not fun the solution is the same as before a level landing at the top of each intersecting curb ramp for turning and stability and when designing the landings make sure to leave enough room at the top even with the maneuverability of a manual chair Marilyn finds it a bit tight at the top of this curb ramp 36 inches is an adequate landing length only if tow room is available beyond the sidewalk so a large well-placed landing at the top of each intersecting curb ramp is a solution to this type of problem but cross slopes pose problems in other places too like sidewalks running slope cross slope and counter slope extremes are the greatest barrier to sidewalk usability by wheelchairs studies have shown that 50% more effort is required to traverse a surface with a 3% cross slope then is needed to roll on a sidewalk with the recommended 2% maximum my chair makes this steep cross slope sidewalk look easy in sunny warm weather but it won't always be so slip resistant when there's ice or snow my chair slips more than once another pedestrian has had to keep me from sliding off the curb and we're talking about 400 pounds of batteries going downhill with the manual chair see how much extra push Marilyn has to give one side just to keep straight even so her progress is erratic and more difficult than it would be if she was only contending with a running slope counter slopes at crosswalks can present big problems here the severe crowning in the street makes it much harder to cross and on the other side of the street the same problem exists in reverse and I'll explain why Marilyn lost her jacket in a minute see how the severe counter slope makes it difficult to take a run at the curb ramp the foot rest on the wheelchair may bottom out curb ramps with a slope greater than 1 in 12 require a great deal of effort to use for a 6 inch curb a curb ramp and landing needs almost 12 feet of sidewalk width now back to why Marilyn took off her jacket we set out to demonstrate the counter slope of this ramp but we ended up demonstrating something else how curb ramps and gutters don't mix we didn't plan this but it shows one all too common problem water in the gutter at the base of the ramp we'll throw up water or worse this time it was radiator fluid what a bummer now let's take a look at ramp positioning this curb ramp actually faces the traffic intersection not the crosswalk so when Marilyn approaches the ramp she has to leave the protection of the crosswalk and expose herself to oncoming traffic here it's coming from behind where she can't keep an eye on it this is very disconcerting sometimes the curb ramps and curb cuts are facing the right way but they're too narrow here's a perfect example Marilyn and I are trying to cross together but the pass through the island is too narrow I actually had to steer into moving traffic to get around the obstacle at the second island I decided to wait for Marilyn to pass through but then I barely made it through the intersection before the light changed well 36 inches is adequate width for passage of a single pedestrian it's not enough for pairs or opposing pedestrian travel here I'm forced to go up onto the grass to avoid sending Marilyn off the curb and into heavy traffic my chair can do it but many can't and what if there wasn't any grass to veer up on lots of things can shrink the width of a sidewalk mailboxes light posts street signs you name it here a light pole squeezes the sidewalk width on one side and a raised curb won't let me veer off to the other side it's pedestrian gridlock well after a rough day of tackling the problems of curb ramp and sidewalk design I was ready to take the bus home but my problems hadn't ended access to this bus shelter was very limited the wheelchair passage brought me too close to the drop-off point on the curb it was difficult to see where the bus lift might be deployed onto the sidewalk and the angled wall makes it impossible for me to stay under the shelter as others waited on the bench good thing it wasn't raining you've seen some bad examples of sidewalk and curb ramp design but there are a number of sources for good design guidance including technical assistance from the access board when you design sidewalk improvements call us for help toll free at 1-800-872-2253 and we appreciate your work to make accessibility a standard in every community here are numbers to call for technical assistance from the access board the toll free number for voice is 1-800-872-2253 the toll free TTY number is 800-993-2822 the local number for voice is 202-272-0080 the local number for facts 202-272-0081 and the local TTY number is 202-272-0082 visit the access board website at www.access-board.gov you can write the access board at the access board 1331 F Street Northwest Suite 1000 Washington DC 2004-1111