Saturday, July 1, 2023

I'm Not a Lawyer, but...

Update: as of August 1, 2023, the pipe and bridge have been removed.

 
Fall Creek Greenway "ramp"

...I'm going to suggest that this ramp isn't ADA-compliant.

I encountered these workers installing the ramp over an 18-inch pipe laid across the Fall Creek Greenway on June 28th. The work was going on about a quarter mile north/east of 39th Street (that's the parking lot of Pro-Strip, 4020 Millersville, in the background). I'll grant that, unlike the makeshift plywood ramps cobbled together by DigIndy contractors across the trail at sites near Central and Illinois Streets in recent years, the ramp is actually... semi-safe. It's constructed of metal mesh with handrails and doesn't have overly steep approaches.

On the other hand, the ramp is clearly designed for pedestrian use, not for wheeled conveyances. Based on the height of the bollards (the orange and white stripes should be six inches each), I estimate that it's 28 to 30 inches wide, less than the 36-inch width required by the ADA (48 inches in commercial settings). It's a somewhat tight fit just to ride through; my riding partner walked the bike across the first time and I used one foot to push, like a scooter. My road bike drop handlebars fit easily, but who knows how well MTB bars will fit? 

Although I've rarely, if ever, seen a wheelchair on this stretch of the greenway, this is relatively close to the fairgrounds and the state fair is just five weeks away. More to the point, many tricycle recumbents use this trail; and those bikes can be as wide as, if not wider than, this ramp. I can just see (and hear) people having to heave their recumbent trikes across that pipe instead of using the ramp.

If this is meant to be long-term "fix," DPW and/or its contractors need to re-think that ramp. The same pipe crosses in front of Ivy Tech at 28th and Illinois, and the ramp there is much sturdier and significantly wider.
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