FYI.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fw: Access to Modern Roundabouts for Pedestrians who are Blind
&ADAAG Construction Tolerances Technical Bulletin,1st Draft for Comment
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 01:32:20 -0500
From: Rev Clyde Shideler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: SJU Advocacy List <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ada-lawyers] Fw: Access to Modern Roundabouts for Pedestrians
who
are Blind & ADAAG Construction Tolerances Technical Bulletin, 1st Draft
for
Comment
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
I thought someone might be interested in this:
~~~~~~~~~ Begin Forwarded Message ~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI, feel free to crosspost ...
====
URL:
http://www.infraknowledge.org/News/Auth/DisplayItem_ctrl.asp?ForumID=4&Messa
geID=6940
====
ADA Construction Tolerances Technical Bulletin: 1st Draft Released
Author: CSI Staff
Source: Construction Specifications Institute
Contributor: G. Alsayab
First draft of a technical assistance bulletin being developed to
address
construction tolerances
in exterior ramps and walking surfaces as related to meeting ADAAG
requirements.
CSI has been developing, on behalf of the Access Board, a technical
assistance bulletin that
addresses meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities
Act
Access Guidelines
(ADAAG) related to ramp and exterior walkways construction.
[The Access Board: http://www.access-board.gov/ ]
To create the document, CSI's InfraKnowledge Web site was chosen as the
tool most suitable for
achieving that task. Utilizing the document creation system, CREATE!, a
Document Development Team
(DDT) started developing the bulletin several months ago, and has now
produced the first draft.
A second draft will be developed over the next 2 months, so early
reviews
of the first draft are
needed for timely incorporation into the next one.
An essential document like the one being drafted needs to reflect the
consensus of the
construction industry as it will end up affecting a wide range of
professionals who deal with
ADA-related design and/or construction projects. Therefore, the
participation of individual
professionals as well as construction-related professional associations
is
of a special importance
in the document development process.
You are hereby invited and encouraged to participate in this effort by
reviewing this first draft
and sharing your review comments and suggestions with the Document
Development Team (DDT). To do
so, simply register as a site user and then access the Review! area of
this
Web site. There, you
can read the posted first draft of the "ADA Construction Tolerances
Bulletin" as well as comment
on it instantly. All posted-for-review documents are viewable in PDF
format
and are downloadable.
How to use Review!:
To post review comments, simply go to the Review! area of InfraKnowledge
(using the icon at the
top bar on this page), click on the title of posted document(s) you are
interested in reviewing,
and then click on the "Post a Comment" button located in the lower
section
of the page and start
typing in your comments.
To directly contact the Document Development Team leader, Craig Haney,
just
click on his name to
initiate a direct e-mail.
Review comments will be considered for the second draft of the bulletin
which will be developed
within 2 months period, and the final bulletin will be produced by early
April 2002.
For further convenience, "Word Perfect" and "Word" copies of the first
draft are attached on the
left sidebar of this page (under ATTACHMENTS) for viewing and
downloading.
* Look in the sidebar under Attachments for downloadable files and web
site
URLs.
====
LINKS FOR THE ABOVE REFERENCED DOC'S:
====
DRAFT 1.WPD (WordPerfect Format):
http://www.infraknowledge.org/datastore/{2A995C93-170E-11D4-84EE-0050DA6EEAD
F}/Native/1EDBB73C-FFFFE280-4CB4-8D16-ACE561F29695.WPD
====
DRAFT 1.DOC (MS-Word Format):
http://www.infraknowledge.org/datastore/{2A995C93-170E-11D4-84EE-0050DA6EEAD
F}/Native/654D4814-FFFFA3D1-4034-952F-20721801D43A.DOC
====
Also of Possible Interest to those who are Blind / Vision-Impaired:
====
URLs:
http://www.access-board.gov/news/roundabouts-bulletin.htm
http://www.access-board.gov/publications/roundabouts/bulletin.htm
====
[Begin Excerpt from 2nd URL above]
Pedestrian Access to Modern Roundabouts:
Design and Operational Issues for Pedestrians who are Blind
BACKGROUND
Roundabouts are replacing traditional intersections in many parts of the
U.S. This trend has led
to concerns about the accessibility of these free-flowing intersections
to
pedestrians who are
blind and visually impaired. Most pedestrians who cross streets at
roundabouts use their vision to
identify a crossable gap between vehicles. While crossing, they
visually
monitor the movements
of approaching traffic and take evasive action when necessary.
Blind pedestrians rely primarily on auditory information to make
judgments
about when it is
appropriate to begin crossing a street. Little research has been
conducted
about the usefulness of
such non-visual information for crossing streets at roundabouts. Recent
research sponsored by the
Access Board, the National Eye Institute, and the American Council of
the
Blind suggests that some
roundabouts can present significant accessibility challenges and risks
to
the blind user (for a
link to an abstract of this research, see the Resources section at the
end
of this document).
This bulletin:
summarizes orientation and mobility techniques used by pedestrians who
are
blind in traveling
independently across streets; highlights key differences between
roundabouts and traditional
intersections with respect to these techniques; suggests approaches that
may improve the
accessibility of roundabouts to blind pedestrians; and encourages
transportation engineers and
planners to implement and test design features to improve roundabout
accessibility.
MODERN ROUNDABOUTS
There are an estimated 40,000 modern roundabouts worldwide, and more
than
200 have been
constructed in the United States. Most of these have been built within
the
last 5 years. Many
jurisdictions are now considering roundabouts to improve vehicle safety,
increase roadway capacity
and efficiency, reduce vehicular delay and concomitant emissions,
provide
traffic-calming effects,
and mark community gateways.
A typical modern roundabout (Figures 1 and 2) is an unsignalized
intersection with a circular
central island and a circulatory roadway around the island. Vehicles
entering the roundabout yield
to vehicles already on the circulatory roadway. A dashed yield line for
vehicles is painted at the
outside edge of the circulating roadway at each entering street. The
dashed
line defines the
boundary of the circulatory roadway (not to be confused with a
conventional
stop bar, since
there is not requirement to stop prior to entering the roundabout).
[End Excerpt from 2nd URL above]
====
--Onward Goes Our UNITED Struggle for EQUALITY !!
Have a Happy & InJoy! :-)
Hugz & Waggin' Nubz,
Mz P & Me
(Advocates for the Differently-ABLED Community)
( http://www.neuroticia.net/sdogs_r_great/patsandphoenix/mzp/mzp001.html
)
~~~~~~~~~ End Forwarded Message ~~~~~~~~~~~
=====
Warmest Regards!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
§§«« Pam & Bella SD »»§§
"Attitudes are the *real* disability!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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