Making City Streets Accessible

The City has about 2,000 miles of sidewalks and 40,000 corners at intersections.  Since many people with disabilities rely on pedestrian ways to get around, these sidewalks are a major asset for the City's citizens.

The City's goal is to make every sidewalk and intersection passable for people with disabilities.  The Streets Department and the Board of Public Service (whose engineers design street improvement) are fully committed to that goal.

The Office on the Disabled consults with both to ensure ADA compliance as the City advances toward that goal.  The costs are so great that renovation of streets and sidewalks has to be done step by step over time.

Strategies

The City has several strategies that it follows:

• Whenever a street is repaved, the project includes making each corner at the intersections accessible through installing curb ramps.
• Whenever new traffic signals are constructed that comply with ADA standards down a street, the project includes making each corner at the intersections accessible through installing curb ramps that comply with ADA standards.
• Whenever a citizen with a disability raises an issue about access in the vicinity of where he or she lives or works, the Streets Department gives priority to solving that problem.
• Whenever a disabled citizen points out broken curb ramps or other problems that can be solved with asphalt patches, the Streets Department gives priority to solving that problem.
• The Alderman have a "50/50" program that can provide an incentive for property owners to maintain the sidewalks in front of their property.  The Citizens' Service Bureau can be contacted to inspect sidewalks or to request to be added to the 50-50 sidewalk repair program.  They can be reached at 314-622-4800.
  
  

The Streets Department and the Office on the Disabled welcome learning about issues that citizens want addressed.  The Streets Department endeavors to fix them as promptly as the City's money allows.

Contact Information