The Seattle Department of Transportation has installed more than 200 new curb ramps across the city in 2015 — you might feel like all of them were installed in the past few weeks on your block of Capitol Hill. You might be partly right.
Here’s how SDOT describes the flurry of buzzing cement cutters:
SDOT’s maintenance operations crews have been busy all year repaving streets, extending the life of residential streets and repairing damaged sidewalks. As part of these maintenance projects, our crews built over 200 new curb ramps this year. The ramps are required by a federal law which kicks in whenever we resurface a street or repair a sidewalk at a crosswalk. All the associated corners within these projects must have curb ramps which meet current standards for accessibility. These means SDOT crews replace outdated curb ramps with new ones that are easier to use, or we add curb ramps where none existed before.
What SDOT doesn’t mention is the work was inspired by a federal lawsuit brought against the city this fall:
The suit, filed Thursday by Disability Rights Washington, doesn’t seek monetary damages but aims to force the city to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates that newly constructed or altered streets have sloped areas to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers, and more. “We’re not asking the city to fix it today or even tomorrow. We really just want a plan,” said Emily Cooper, an attorney for the nonprofit. “We want a concrete plan on how they’re going to fix all the concrete ramps in the city so everyone can work or visit Seattle safely.”
Meanwhile, SDOT says the city’s “large scale arterial paving projects” also include new curb ramps to make it easier to get around “whether you’re in a bus, on a bike, in a car, on foot, in a wheelchair, pushing a stroller.”
SDOT is inept. They’ve done nothing to help crossing John Street at E 14th and E 15th Avenues. This location is near a major hospital and grocery store frequented by the elderly, disabled and transit users. Lack of action here is totally unacceptable. Furthermore, John street is full of potholes, a potentially fatal hazard were someone to fall and be run over by an SUV.
John is a very dangerous street to cross, even for athletic and alert young people. Meanwhile, they’ve completed hundreds ramps in quiet residential areas where the need is less critical. SDOT even wasted money redoing ramps in my parents neighborhood, View Ridge, where they ALREADY had perfectly nice ramps and safe, quiet streets.
There is a light and crosswalk at 15th and John. What more do you want?
A safe way to cross John at 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th on foot is definitely needed.
I too question the installation of ramps in very quiet, residential neighborhoods. Some of these areas get virtually no foot traffic, yet millions of dollars are being spent to make them more “pedestrian-friendly.” It seems to me that someone at SDOT needs to prioritize better.
So nice to see this work taking place. Finally improvements most anyone can use and appreciate!
It would be great to now have more street resurfacing rather than just pothole filling.
….hmm…now if they could just add a turning light on Broadway and East John that would be great!!!
It’s good but seems misguided. Limited funds going to rebuild existing ramps to meet the latest standards instead of adding new ramps and sidewalks where they don’t exist which would go a lot further for accessibility.
This is nothing new for Seattle.The north end has had them for years.
Didn’t say they were new to the city or Capitol Hill for that matter — but the rush to build a bunch of them is new
Why put money and resources into updating ramps to current standards? Because many of those ramps are difficult or dangerous to use for folks using mobility aids like wheelchairs or walkers.
See Broadway e and e Republican for an example. That one looks like someone just took a snow shovel and scooped up some cement. Technically, there’s a ramp there, but the sides are really steep.
So, no, this isn’t just about meeting written standards but making ramps safer and more usable.
Another example of ramps that exist but are dangerous and scary – intersections where shortcuts were taken and there’s one ramp instead of two. Can’t think of any examples here on Cap Hill (though I’m sure they exist), but basically, imagine a ramp that takes you right out into the middle of the intersection. Stop for a moment and think about how scary that would feel at the height of rush hour. You’d have to go dow the ramp, then quickly readjust so you’re out of the line of oncoming cars.
I *have* been happy to see more repaired sidewalks, and agree that these improvements need to continue, and need to include smoothing out the streets.