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The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Transportation issued a Joint Technical Assistance on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This Technical Assistance significantly changes when ADA requirements must be met on minor resurfacing projects.
Title II of the ADA applies to the programs and activities of state and local governmental entities and ensures that persons with disabilities have access to the pedestrian routes in the public right of way. An important part of this requirement is the obligation whenever streets, roadways, or highways are altered to provide curb ramps where street level pedestrian walkways cross curbs.1 This requirement is intended to ensure the accessibility and usability of the pedestrian walkway for persons with disabilities.
Without curb ramps, sidewalk travel in urban areas can be dangerous, difficult, or even impossible for people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility devices. Curb ramps allow people with mobility disabilities to gain access to the sidewalks and to pass through center islands in streets. Otherwise, these individuals are forced to travel in streets and roadways and are put in danger or are prevented from reaching their destination; some people with disabilities may simply choose not to take this risk and will not venture out of their homes or communities.
Since ambiguity has led to inconsistency nationally of when curb ramps should be installed, the USDOJ and USDOT have been working closely to address the issue of what constitutes an “alteration” in a resurfacing project, which would require compliance with ADA. The Technical Assistance now clearly identifies which types of resurfacing activities are alterations and which are maintenance. Now, virtually all “paving,” except some
These requirements apply to all public roadways, whether
federally funded or not, regardless of ownership.
http://ltap.colorado.edu/
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LOCAL TECHN ICAL ASS I STANCE PROGRAM
In This Issue
Learn How Buses Can Share the Streets with Bicyclists 2
CDOT’s Debris Eating Gator Getter 3
LōTrans Virtual Transportation Conference 4
Pig Poop’s Role as a Binder in Pavements 5
Requirement to Provide ADA Curb Ramps 6
Ideas that Work - Pipe Puller 7
Colorado Flood Recovery Resources 8
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
....continued on page 6
Significant Changes to Federal Requirement to Provide ADA Curb Ramps when Streets, Roads, or Highways are Altered through Resurfacing
Fall 2013
Renée RailsbackProgram Director
Cassie GuildTraining Coordinator
“Noom” MusiketLibrary Assistant
Becky MillerWebmaster
The Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the University of Colorado at Boulder to provide information on the latest transportation issues facing Colorado’s state and local governments.
For more information:Colorado LTAPUniversity of Colorado BoulderUCB 5613100 Marine St, A213Boulder, CO 80309
Office: (303) 735-3530Toll Free: (888) 848-LTAPFax: (303) 735-2968Email: [email protected]: http://ltap.colorado.edu
COLORADO LTAP
2 Assisting Local Road & Bridge Agencies for Over 25 Years
Learn How Buses Can Share the Streets with Bicyclists
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SF BC) teamed up to produce a training video that teaches bus operators about safe practices when sharing the road with bicycle riders. The video was designed as an important tool for educating Muni [bus] operators about how to drive safely around the rapidly increasing number of people biking throughout San Francisco. SFMTA uses the video in their bicycle safety courses they provide to Muni operators. They show the video to all new drivers, as well as any veteran drivers who must repeat their training.
The training video is designed to help operators better understand things that bicyclists do that are completely legal and very safe; but it also helps them to recognize what bicyclists who aren’t trained in safety tend to do, which they may think is safe, but really isn’t.
The concepts addressed in the video are universal and include:• How bus operator training applies to bicyclists;• Inattention can lead to problems;• Bicyclists on the right side;• Transit vehicle issues and solutions; and • Bicycle issues and solutions.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition teaches bike safety courses to many groups. The organization taught 4,800 new bike riders in 2012, as well as over 1,000 taxi driver applicants.
The video might be helpful in your area and can be found on YouTube by searching “Sharing Streets with People on Bikes” by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
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The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), which is committed to spending public funds wisely and working to get more out of their system, has begun using an innovative new piece of equipment on northern Colorado highways, particularly I-25: The Gator Getter.
Curious what gators have to do with Colorado? Basically, the Gator Getter is an equipment extension that CDOT installs on the front of regular service vehicles and operates similar to a plow blade from inside the cab of the truck. It allows crews to remain in their truck while simultaneously picking up trash and debris on highways via the Gator Getter. The bright yellow extension is particularly useful on highways like I-25 where the speed limit is 75 MPH and crews face greater dangers when exiting vehicles to do their work.
Thanks to the Gator Getter, removing debris from the highway will not only become a safer process for employees by allowing them to stay within their vehicles, but it will also be a more efficient process since temporary maintenance Cone Zones don’t have to be set up in order to pick up debris. What once was a two-man job can now be a one-person job, and a safer one at that.
Here’s how the Gator Getter works: • Crews attach the Gator Getter to an ordinary work truck. • While driving in traffic on the interstate, the driver
lowers the Gator Getter similar to a plow blade. • Debris and trash will be scooped up into the Gator
Getter due to the momentum of the traveling truck. It will be kept in a cage inside the equipment until the driver reaches a stopping point to remove it.
• Once the driver is finished cleaning up the highway, he will head back to the maintenance shed and remove the debris to finish his work.
Since the bright yellow extension is completely new to Colorado, motorists may be surprised to see them on the highways. It is important for motorists to remember that nothing is required on their part when driving next to a Gator Getter. The equipment was made to allow our crews to drive side-by-side with members of the public to help make the highways cleaner, and more importantly, safer.
Motorists in Northern Colorado Urged to Watch Out for CDOT’s Newest Piece of Highway Equipment The Gator Getter
The Northeastern ColoradoCDOT Region 4 truck extension allows for improved safety and efficiency for work on high speed highways.
Colorado LTAP Fall 2013 3
LōTransTM 2013 Virtual Conference
November 19-20, 2013Industry’s First Transportation
Management & Work Zone Safety Virtual Conference
The LoTrans™ Virtual Conference & Innovation Showcase is gearing up for its second annual conference on November 19-20. Along with a variety of presentations for local transportation officials, this year’s conference will feature meetings, networking opportunities and seminars from the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA). NLTAPA, a Charter Partner of the LōTrans event, will be a part of the FHWA LTAP/TTAP Clearinghouse virtual exhibit booth.
Over 800 individuals, including representatives from city and county transportation departments, signed on from their desktop to attend the 2012 LōTrans™. NLTAPA was a key part of the 2012 conference, along with ARTBA’s Transportation Officials Division and the National Association of County Engineers (NACE).
LōTrans™ is an innovative way to learn through affordable means — LōTrans™ offers LTAP Centers and local agencies access to all of the benefits of a conference at NO COST!
LōTrans™ reinvents the conference concept with a 21st Century twist. It harnesses the power of digital media to bring a first-class, virtual education and exhibition experience directly to the desktops of city and county government officials. LōTrans™ operates much like a traditional conference hall based trade show, with virtual vendor booths, educational sessions and training events — all available online.
This year’s theme, “Where Technology Meets the Road”, will focus on two areas of interest: the driverless car and other technologies that will have a sizable impact on the design, construction and maintenance of the nation’s transportation network; and innovations in work zone safety that have helped reduce accidents and injuries to both motorists and workers in work zones. There will also be bonus sessions led by FHWA officials that will cover topics such as sustainable pavement and intelligent compaction, geosynthetic reinforced soils, and 3-D engineered models and construction. Locally-focused highlights include sessions such as “Preventing Work Zone Intrusions” and “New Technologies and Workplace Practices That Can Help Organizations Become More Innovative”.
Be sure to stay tuned for a schedule of additional NLTAPA events and meetings that will be hosted at the FHWA LTAP/TTAP Clearinghouse booth in the LōTrans Exhibit Hall.
There is NO COST for the 2013 LōTrans™ Virtual Conference & Innovation Showcase. Be sure to mark your calendar for November 19-20, 2013. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.lotransvirtualconference.org/.
No registration fees. No travel authorizations by city councils needed.
No airfare, train, hotel or meal expenses. All that is needed is an Internet-equipped
computer or laptop to connect from anywhere around the world.
For more information about LōTrans™, or to provide any feedback, please contact:
Carolyn [email protected]
202-289-4434
4 Assisting Local Road & Bridge Agencies for Over 25 Years
GETTING THE SCOOP ON PIG POOPITS POTENTIAL ROLE AS A BINDER IN PAVEMENTS
Recently a Better Roads article titled, “Pig Manure is Being Used as an Asphalt Binder,” grabbed the attention of LTAP staff. Let’s face it, how could you not read an article after a title like that?? Of course we had to delve into this topic even further, and what we discovered is fascinating. An assistant professor of civil engineering from North Carolina A&T State University, Dr. Elham Fini, has been conducting research focusing on converting swine manure into a bio-adhesive that could be used as an asphalt binder, along with other binder applications, such as for carpeting, soil stabilization, crack sealing, and roofing. This swine manure bio-adhesive, which is considered a cost-effective green technology, could provide an alternative for petroleum based adhesives. According to the Better Roads article, whereas a petroleum-based binder costs about $2.00 per gallon, the swine waste binder would cost around 50 cents per gallon, a considerable savings.
The name of this product is PiGrid, pronounced like hybrid, and in addition to the cost-savings benefit of using swine waste as a binder, it could help solve a growing waste disposal problem. According to information found on the Bioadhesive Alliance Inc. website, commercial hog farming accounts for roughly 107 million tons (total weight) a year in swine manure. So, this durable, low-cost product would help facilitate swine manure management while at the same time adding products beneficial to the construction industry.
Per the Bioadhesive Alliance Inc. website, another benefit of this product is that it can be used as a full or partial replacement for petroleum-based asphalt binder to reduce mixing and compaction temperatures and enhance mixture workability during plant production and pavement placement. The researchers also claim that PiGrid can help reduce greenhouse emissions, which are a concern with hot-mix asphalt production.
Over one-million dollars for the research and technology development of this product has been provided by the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Science, and NC A&T State University. According to the article in Better Roads, PiGrid is expected to be available in the United States in the next 12 to 18 months. It will be interesting to keep an eye on this technology and see what the results and impacts are in both the agriculture and asphalt industry.
Article Sources:WV LTAP, Country Roads & City Streets, Vol. 28, No. 2, Summer 2013BioAdhesive Alliance Inc: https://gust.com/c/bioadhesive_alliance_incBetter Roads: http://www.betterroads.com/pig-manure-is-being-used-as-an-asphalt-binder/
www.bigstock.com
Colorado LTAP Fall 2013 5
....continued from page 1
maintenance activities such as chip seals, requires the installation of curb ramps, regardless of paving thickness. Maintenance activities are not considered an alteration, and therefore do not require the installation of curb ramps.
Activities which are considered alterations include overlays of additional material to the roadway surface (with or without milling) including but not limited to the addition of a new layer of asphalt, reconstruction, concrete pavement rehabilitation and reconstruction, open-graded surface course, micro-surfacing and thin lift overlays, cape seals, and in-place asphalt recycling.
Activities which are considered maintenance are treatments that serve solely to seal and protect the road surface, improve friction at limited locations, and/or control splash and spray. Some examples of the types of treatments that would normally be considered maintenance are: painting or striping lanes, crack filling and sealing, surface sealing, chip seals, slurry seals, fog seals, scrub sealing, joint crack seals, joint repairs, dowel bar retrofit, spot high-friction treatments, diamond grinding, and pavement patching. In some cases, the combination of several maintenance treatments occurring at or near the same time may qualify as an alteration and would trigger the obligation to provide curb ramps.
Questions have arisen largely due to the development of a variety of road surface treatments other than traditional road resurfacing, which generally involved the addition of a new layer of asphalt. Public entities have asked the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice to clarify whether particular road surface treatments fall within the ADA definition of alterations, or whether they should be considered maintenance that would not trigger the obligation to provide curb ramps. This Joint Technical Assistance addresses some of those questions.
Where must curb ramps be provided? Generally, curb ramps are needed wherever a sidewalk or other pedestrian walkway crosses a curb. Curb ramps must be located to ensure a person with a mobility disability can travel from a sidewalk on one side of the street, over or through any curbs or traffic islands, to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. However, the ADA does not require installation of ramps or curb ramps in the absence of a pedestrian walkway with a prepared surface for pedestrian use. Nor are curb ramps required in the absence of a curb, elevation, or other barrier between the street and the walkway.
When is resurfacing considered to be an alteration? Resurfacing is an alteration that triggers the requirement to add curb ramps if it involves work on a street or roadway spanning from one intersection to another, and includes overlays of additional material to the road surface, with or without milling. Examples include, but are not limited to the following treatments or their equivalents: addition of a new layer of asphalt, reconstruction, concrete pavement rehabilitation and reconstruction, open-graded surface course, micro-surfacing and thin lift overlays, cape seals, and in-place asphalt recycling.
What kinds of treatments constitute maintenance rather than an alteration? Treatments that serve solely to seal and protect the road surface, improve friction, and control splash and spray are considered to be maintenance because they do not significantly affect the public’s access to or usability of the road. Some examples of the types of treatments that would normally be considered maintenance are: painting or striping lanes, crack filling and sealing, surface sealing, chip seals, slurry seals, fog seals, scrub sealing, joint crack seals, joint repairs, dowel bar retrofit, spot high -friction treatments, diamond grinding, and pavement patching. In some cases, the combination of several maintenance treatments occurring at or near the same time may qualify as an alteration and would trigger the obligation to provide curb ramps.
What if a locality is not resurfacing an entire block, but is resurfacing a crosswalk by itself? Crosswalks constitute distinct elements of the right-of-way intended to facilitate pedestrian traffic. Regardless of whether there is curb-to-curb resurfacing of the street or roadway in general, resurfacing of a crosswalk also requires the provision of curb ramps at that crosswalk.
This new guidance was effective as of July 2013; and
these requirements apply to all public roadways, whether federally funded or not, regardless of ownership. Projects that were under contract, under advertisement, or in design when the guidance went into effect in July were affected by the implementation of the Technical Assistance. If it was determined that curb ramps are now required for those projects, they must be installed in a timely manner. Alteration projects which were scheduled for advertisement in October 2013 or later need to include curb ramps in the Plans, Specifications, & Estimate (PS&E). Because these projects would currently be in the design phase, they have the opportunity to modify their PS&E, if necessary.
The Federal Highway Administration has updated their ADA / Section 504 Question and Answer page to include the updated information. It is available at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/civilrights/programs/ada_sect504qa.cfm. The Technical Assistance provides a companion glossary of terms that is available at: http://www.ada.gov/doj-fhwa-ta-glossary.htm. 1 See 28 CFR 35.151(i)(1) and 35.151(i)(2)
FEDERAL REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE ADA CURB RAMPS
6 Assisting Local Road & Bridge Agencies for Over 25 Years
Problem: While installing 24-inch diameter HDPE pipe, the gasket ends of the pipe were being damaged during the process of pushing the joints of pipe together with the bucket of the backhoe.
Solution: After trying various methods to push the pipe together without causing damage, it was decided to design and build a device to pull the two pieces of pipe together. The puller consists of a bar for leverage attached to a strap that fits down in the corrugations of the pipe with the chain and boomers attached to the other end. Then the bar is pulled back, pulling the two pieces of pipe together.
Labor, Equipment, and Materials Used: Cost of 6 feet of 1” x 1/2” flat strap $ 9.18 Cost of 3 feet of 3/4” black iron pipe $ 7.98 Cost of 6 feet of 5/16” chain $ 23.94 Cost of 2 – 10” chain boomers $ 17.99 Cost of 2 – 7/16” x 2 ½” bolts $ 2.78 Cost of 2 – 7/16” lock nuts $ 2.80 Cost of labor $160.00
Total Cost $225.67
Savings and Benefits: The 24-inch diameter pipe costs on average $480.00 per 20-foot section and if the ends are damaged the pipe is useless as the pipe cannot be sealed. Time is saved on the job as the workers can safely put the pipe together while the operator continues to dig.
PIPE PULLER ~ CITY OF CAñON CITYAdam Lancaster ~ [email protected]
Colorado LTAP Fall 2013 7
LOCAL TECHN ICAL ASS I STANCE PROGRAM
Thomas McDonaldOctober 28, 1941 - October 28, 2013
It is with great sorrow that we tell you Colorado LTAP’s Roadway Safety WZTC instructor, Tom McDonald, passed away Monday, October 28, 2013. Tom presented safety-related workshops and offered advice to local transportation agencies across the country on maintaining and improving safety on local roads. For 33 years, he served as a professional engineer in a variety of positions for the Iowa DOT including materials, construction, design, and administration. On retiring from the DOT in 1998, he joined Iowa’s Center for Transportation Research and Education as the state’s Safety Circuit Rider. Whatever the weather or road conditions, every week Tom drove highways and back roads to city and county shops, garages, and meeting rooms where he led hundreds of safety-related training activities for transportation workers. He also managed and/or participated in dozens of research projects and authored several manuals. Only a little more than a month ago, he was still barreling full steam ahead, planning his next projects and scheduling our work zone training events in the spring. We lost a champion for local road safety improvements and along with so many people across the country – Tom we’ll miss you!
Sample of Tom’s Research Projects:• Several Road Safety Audits across the country • Development of a Maintenance Worker’s Manual for the Alaska DOT• Mitigation for Safety Concerns on Low-Volume, Unpaved Rural Roads• Traffic Control Strategies in Work Zones with Edge Drop-Offs• Safety Impacts of Street Lighting at Isolated Rural Intersections• Iowa Drainage Law Manual • Safety Impacts of Pavement Edge Dropoffs• Channelizing Device Effectiveness on High Speed/High Volume Roadways• Evaluation of Rumble Stripes on Low-Volume Rural Roads• Best Practices Safety Guide for Local Rural Agencies• Evaluation of Safety Edge Benefits• Toolbox of Countermeasures to Reduce Red Light Running • Effectiveness of Safety Corridor Programs
COLORADO FLOOD RECOVERY RESOURCES
Colorado LTAP has provided a page of Flood Recovery Resources on their website at http://ltap.coloradoedu/2013coloradofloodresources.php. Articles include:
» FEMA Disaster Assistance - Disaster aid grants for homeowners, renters, and small businesses.» Flood Information Hotline Established for Public - CDOT Office of Communications’ single hotline for the public to call with questions.» CDOT Flood Safety Alert - Unique hazards to consider when working in and around floodwaters and flooded areas.» Tips for ER Funding for Colorado Local Agencies» Colorado Will Rebuild - Resources to help you rebuild and recover.» Wise Giving Tips Following Colorado Floods - CO Secretary of State Scott Gessler warns Coloradans to beware of charity scams.» How to Help those Affected by Flooding in Colorado - Info on needed donations and volunteering.» Floods - Before, During and After Tools and Resources» Volunteer Consulting Services - A company reaching out to provide volunteer services.» Colorado Flood Highway Updates - Highway openings and closures» Resources for Helping Deal with Stressful Events - Articles on how to cope with the stress that arises as a result of natural disasters, and ways to support your family.
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