Sidewalk Maintenance: Atlanta Takes First Step
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As those of your familiar with 12-Step Programs know, step one involves admitting you've got a serious and unmanageable problem. We're pleased to report that with regard to sidewalk maintenance, the City of Atlanta has taken that step. At a City Council work session in February, Public Works Commissioner David Scott estimated that one-fourth Atlanta's sidewalks need to be repaired or replaced. He also said the sidewalk maintenance problem could not be resolved with the resources on hand. The current $125,000 budget for maintenance, Commissioner Scott said, "allows the city to do emergency maintenance only." At a meeting with PEDS president Sally Flocks earlier this month, Commissioner Scott agreed that a bond referendum would be the City's
best choice for funding the estimated $80 million in sidewalks repairs.
An article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week added momentum to our efforts to promote using tax dollars to pay for sidewalk maintenance. Meanwhile, the Midtown Neighbors Association reported last week that Councilmember Anne Fauver found "a small pot of money" to secure replacement sidewalks for three streets in Midtown. "This is not the start of a program -- it is a one time thing," the newsletter explained. "No other neighborhood will have this benefit." PEDS is delighted to learn that broken sidewalks on a few Midtown streets will be replaced. Yet since public funds will finance these, we consider it inappropriate for Atlanta to continue requiring property owners on all other streets to pay for repairs on sidewalks adjacent to their property. Why would someone on an east-west street in Midtown agree to pay for sidewalk repairs after learning that the City paid for repairs on the north-south streets? Likewise, why would anyone in other neighborhoods be willing to pay for repairs if people in Midtown got theirs funded by the City? Sidewalks are public assets, just like the streets. Atlanta needs to update its sidewalk ordinance, pass a bond referendum allocating $80 million for sidewalk maintenance, and take responsibility for maintaining sidewalks throughout the City. |
Street Resurfacing: Cut Curbs, Not Corners |
At intersections without curb ramps, sidewalk travel in urban areas is
dangerous, difficult, and often impossible for people with
disabilities. Curb ramps enable people who use wheelchairs or other
mobility aids to gain access to sidewalks and pass through islands in
streets. The
Americans with Disabilities Act requires local and state governments to install curb ramps whenever
streets are resurfaced.
Try telling that to the Atlanta Public Works
Department. After PEDS President Sally Flocks complained to traffic
engineer Nursef Kedir about the city's failure to install ramps when
Monroe Drive was repaved, he said the work done on Monroe was "routine maintenance"
and therefore didn't trigger ADA requirements. Regulations and technical assistance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as legal precedent, show otherwise. In Kinney v. Yerusalim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in 1993 that repaving that extends "from intersection to intersection" is not "routine maintenance" but instead constitutes an "alteration" that triggers ADA requirements for ramps.
PEDS has asked the City of Atlanta to update its policies so that curb ramps will be installed at the same time that streets are resurfaced. We have also encouraged Public Works Department to list streets that have been repaved since 1992 and inventory the location of curbs on those streets that lack ramps at intersections. The cost of retrofitting these to comply with ADA should be factored into the City's budget for street maintenance. We are also researching policies and practices in other metro Atlanta jurisdictions and at the Georgia Department and will promote changes among all those that fail to install ramps when repaving streets.
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Open House Workshop
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The Atlanta Regional Commission is seeking feedback on
the draft 2007 update of its regional bike plan. At the Open House Workshop on Tuesday, consultants who helped
develop the plan will review preliminary findings and draft policy
recommendations.
Tuesday, May 22, 4:00 - 8:00 PM Atlanta-Fulton County Library, lower level One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta (across the street from the SW exit of the Peachtree Center MARTA station)
The bike-ped plan provides useful tools for analyzing "latent demand" for walking
and cycling and "level of service" for people on foot. It also makes
policy recommendations about crossing treatments at locations that are
not controlled by traffic signals.
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