SALEM – Access and mobility are increasingly better for those who walk, bike and roll thanks to an additional 2,442 curb ramps that ODOT made ADA compliant last year.
ODOT released the 2024 ADA Settlement Agreement Annual Report today. It finds that since 2017, we’ve brought 11,188 curb ramps into current American with Disabilities Act accessibility standards and made progress toward a statewide system that is accessible to all users.
Continuing to learn, improve and streamline
Overall, we’ve made many improvements and created efficiencies to the program in the last seven years. We’ve also gained more knowledge about responding to the needs of people with disabilities and changed business practices in response. Some of the most recent improvements include:
- Updating our agency ADA Transition Plan.
- Grouping large volume contracts together for efficiency and cost reduction.
- Creating mandatory on-demand, online training for Oregon work zone designers and inspectors to learn more about temporary pedestrian access routes.
What does it take to make a curb ramp ADA compliant?
Improving a curb ramp requires many steps and experts to achieve full ADA compliance. For example:
- Designing curb ramps to fit the location using national best practices and guidance from the U.S. Access Board.
- Removing barriers in existing curb ramps like the size of the lip from the street to the curb ramp entrance.
- Making the slope on the ramp less steep and crating a wider area to allow turning.
- Verifying location information and ensuring the ramp style is acceptable for a compliant ramp.
- Securing contractors to build the curb ramps.
Accessible curb ramps benefit all users, but especially those who use wheelchairs, strollers and mobility devices, and visually impaired individuals.
Besides building new curb ramps and remediating existing curb ramps, we will sometimes close inaccessible crossings where it is not currently a safe place to cross the road. These are areas that may be unmarked, lack pedestrian signals, have missing curb ramps or have barriers in the middle, making them inaccessible to people with disabilities.
As we move across the state making ADA improvements, you may see us integrate ADA upgrades as part of a larger planned project as well as constructing stand-alone ADA curb ramp improvements. In all cases, we will make every effort to minimize community impacts such as closures and detours.
Since 2017, ODOT has made progress each year to bring 25,899 curb ramps into current ADA compliance as part of the settlement agreement with the Association of Oregon Centers for Independent Living.
“Implementing the ADA Delivery Program is important to ODOT and reflects our strategic goals of an equitable and modern transportation system,” said Statewide Capital Program Engineer Tova Peltz. “We are committed to building and maintaining a transportation system that is accessible to people with disabilities.”
To find out more about ODOT’s ADA Program or about projects in your community, please read the full 2024 ADA Settlement Agreement Annual Report and visit our website.