Agenda - Council - 10/11/2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

CAS E' #4 ADOPT PEDESTRI.4~N CURB l:L42V[P DETAIL By: Leonard Linton, Civil Engineer II Background: ?edestr/an curb ramps are the transition zones between sidewalks and curb and gutter. They are installed at al1 locations where walks or trails cross the street. The enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) made installation of a different surface treatment on the ramps mandatory. The purpose for the change in surface texture is to provide notice to the visually impaired that there is a crossing ahead. Truncated domes were adopted as the standard in the early 1990's then implementation was suspended for ten (! 0) years due ro the maintenance concerns with the domes. Snow removal equipment sheared off the domes, removing and replacing the panels was labor intensive and might need to be done every year. During the'suspension the standard practice for constructing pedestr/an curb ramps was to install exposed ag~egate on the ramp surfaces. The only exception to th.is practice was on Minnesota State Aid (MSA) projects where state and/or federal money was inyo[ved. Truncated domes were installed on all projects where federal money was included in the l~hnding mechanism. The suspension expired in 200I and was not renewed. The ADA requirements are being reviewed and new guidelines will be issued in the future. This summer the League of Mhmesota Cities legal counsel issued an opinion that truncated domes must be installed on all pedestrian curb ramps in public r/~at-of-way. A copy of the opinion, the old detail ~nd the new detail are attached. Staff has been reviewing options for the truncated domes and has obtained research pertbrmed' by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation on various dome systems. The methods studied included stamping the surface of the wet concrete to form the domes, installing plastic mats with domes in th.e wet concrete, rubber mats attached to cured concrete, masonry panels inset into cured concrete and a cement product t_oweled onto existing surfaces. The only product that was passed the test~g was the plastic mats. The remainder were not approved for use on Wisconsin DOT Projects. The full study is available at City Hall. Staf£ saw a new product at the A.PWA convention in M. irmeapolis this week. It is a stainless steel panel with raised domes and a non-sk/d fin/sh. The product is manufactured in Wisconsin. It is on the Minnesota Department of Transportation .'\pproved list for truncated dome systems. The product was tested by Wisconsin, staff. 2as requested test results for this project. -241--