Billion-dollar sidewalk makeover for Calif. disabled

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Billion-dollar sidewalk makeover for disabled

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/22/BATQ1B85NF.DTL & tsp=1

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- State transportation officials agreed Tuesday to spend $1.1 billion

over 30 years on safer sidewalks and better curb ramps to help the disabled.

The settlement, filed in federal court in Oakland, requires Caltrans to install

and improve curb ramps along state-owned highways and repair and widen

sidewalks.

It also requires Caltrans to put in curb ramps at intersections whenever it

resurfaces state highways that run through city streets - for example, 19th

Avenue in San Francisco, El Camino Real on the Peninsula and Ashby Avenue in

Berkeley.

The state maintains 2,500 miles of sidewalks on its highways, in park-and-ride

lots and on pedestrian overpasses and underpasses, which are also covered by the

suit, lawyers for disability groups said.

The settlement does not apply to other streets and roads, which are under local

government authority. In 2002, a federal appeals court ruled that California

cities must make their sidewalks accessible to the disabled by removing

obstacles such as large cracks and low tree branches.

Tuesday's Caltrans settlement is " a long-term investment in California's future,

which will afford persons with disabilities the opportunity to participate more

fully in society, " said attorney -Lee Kimber of Disability Rights Advocates,

which represented the plaintiffs.

" Caltrans is committed to addressing the mobility needs of all Californians, "

said the agency's director, Randy Iwasaki. He acknowledged that the settlement

would probably leave the state with less money for road and bridge maintenance

work, but promised not to sacrifice safety projects.

The suit was filed in 2006 by two disabled people and two advocacy groups. They

said sidewalks along state highways were often uneven, crumbling, narrow or

obstructed by light poles or shrubs.

Some intersections lack curb ramps, and existing ramps often lack yellow

dome-shaped disks that warn the visually impaired of the boundary between the

sidewalk and the street, the suit said.

One plaintiff, Ben Rockwell of Long Beach, said he often had to steer his

wheelchair onto the Pacific Coast Highway near his home because of missing or

inadequate curb ramps, and narrowly missed being hit by traffic.

With Tuesday's settlement, Rockwell said, wheelchair users " look forward to the

day when we do not have to travel in the street with vehicular traffic because

sidewalks are inaccessible. "

Caltrans said it spent $10 million a year on disability access in a recent

10-year period, less than a third of the amount it would spend in an average

year during the 30-year settlement. Public comments will help the department

decide which areas need prompt attention, said Kimber, the plaintiffs' lawyer.

A federal judge is scheduled to examine the settlement in January and hold a

hearing on final approval in April.