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Statement of Need: The Access Board has issued accessibility guidelines for the design, construction, and alteration of buildings and facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) at 36 CFR part 1191. These guidelines were developed primarily for buildings and facilities on sites. Some of the provisions in these guidelines can be readily applied to pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way such as curb ramps. However, other provisions need to be adapted or new provisions developed for pedestrian facilities that are built in the public right-of-way.

Summary of the Legal Basis: Section 502 (b) (3) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 792 (b) (3), requires the Access Board to establish and maintain minimum guidelines for the standards issued by other agencies pursuant to the ADA and ABA. In addition, section 504 of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12204, requires the Access Board to issue accessibility guidelines for buildings and facilities covered by the law.

Alternatives: The Access Board established a Public Rights-of-Way Access Advisory Committee to make recommendations for the guidelines. The advisory committee was comprised of a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including representatives for state and local government agencies responsible for constructing facilities in the public right-of-way, transportation engineers, disability groups, and bicycling and pedestrian organizations. The Access Board released a draft of the guidelines for public comment. The NPRM was based on the advisory committee report and public comments on the draft guidelines. The final rule will be based on the NPRM and public comments on the NPRM.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The Access Board identified three provisions in the NPRM that would have more than minimal impacts on state and local governments. The provisions would require detectable warning surfaces on newly constructed and altered curb ramps and blended transitions at pedestrian street crossings; accessible pedestrian signals and pushbuttons when pedestrian signals are newly installed or replaced at signalized intersections; and pedestrian activated signals at roundabouts with multi-lane pedestrian crossings. Another provision would require a 2 percent maximum cross slope on pedestrian access routes within pedestrian street crossings with yield or stop control and would have more than minimal impacts on state and local governments that construct roadways with pedestrian crossings in hilly areas. The NPRM included questions requesting information to assess the costs and benefits of these provisions, as well as other provisions that may have cost impacts. The Access Board will prepare a regulatory impact assessment to accompany the final rule based on information provided in response to questions in the NPRM and other sources.