Designing Accessible Sidewalks and Trails - Part I

Course Outline

Accessible sidewalks and trails are essential in order to be used by all including those with disabilities. The Course materials “Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access,” promotes safe design standards for including the design of wheelchair ramps, width of sidewalks, allowable grade changes of trails and much more. This course will provide the reader with the knowledge to use the text to aid in designing accessible sidewalk and trails. The course materials are based solely on the FHWA document “Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access.” This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

This 7 hour online course is the first part of a two part series and will introduce to the reader a review of existing guidelines and practices.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student would have learned the following:

When and why the ADA started;
Cases related to accessibility problems;
How outdoor recreational areas are classified;
Purpose of the Wilderness Act;
Perception Characteristics that are exhibited by pedestrians;
Reach of wheelchair users;
Eye level height of wheelchair users;
The use of Detectable warnings;
Which types are painted crosswalks are most visible;
Purpose of the TEA -21 Act;
Purpose of the CMAQ Program;
Calculations to determine running grade;
Meaning of shy distance;
Specifications and uses of truncated domes;
Rate of speed that pedestrians walk;
Range of cross-slopes for various types of roadways;
Size of letters and numbers on signs;
Range of cross-slopes on trails;
Minimum number of accessible parking spaces required;
Size of traffic striping;
Acceptable slopes of ramps;
Width of curb landings;
Acceptable rates of change;
Most likely path of pedestrians on sidewalks;
Purpose of the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP);
When to use accessible Pedestrian facilities;
Statistics regarding population age and disability rates; and
Characteristics of wheel chair travel.

Intended Audience and Benefit

This course is intended for those wanting an understanding of the design of sidewalk s and trails and their function in the transportation network. This course is designed so that the intended audience will benefit immediately with the information to make intelligent decisions related to Accessible sidewalk and trail design.

Course Introduction

Course Content

The purpose of this course will be to provide information on applying the provisions found in the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. The link to the course content based on FHWA document is as follows:

Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access: Part I of II: Review of Existing Guidelines and Practices (31 MB PDF file)

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

The implementation of accessible sidewalks and trails are essential to the safety and of pedestrians and those with disabilities. Each traffic part of the design process plays an integral part in providing safety on in the transportation network. Good Engineering judgment is always paramount in any transportation design. Utilizing good engineering judgment and the standards set forth in the guidelines, the designer will be able to design accessible sidewalks and trails that promote the safe and efficient movement of people.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/
www.aashto.com
www.ite.com

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.