Mac10440 ada poster trb-2
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1. The city of Bellevue worked with the FHWA to use an innovative Ultra Light Inertial Profiler (ULIP) to precisely measure sidewalk accessibility features like slopes and displacements. 2. Mounted on a Segway, the ULIP uses lasers, gyroscopes and other sensors to capture sidewalk data at a high rate of accuracy and tie it to GPS coordinates. 3. This large dataset is then analyzed to identify non-compliant locations and inform a transition plan to improve pedestrian accessibility as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Mac10440 ada poster trb-2
- 1. Making Bellevue Sidewalks AccessibleMeeting Paper: 12-1439 Author: Franz Loewenherz, Senior Transportation Planner (City of Bellevue, WA) TRB 2012 Annual for Everyone What is ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act)? Why is ADA Imporant? 152ND AVE NE ADA is a federal law requiring local governments to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not Quality of Life for People with Disabilities The devices lasers, accelerometers, excluded from programs, services, and activities. This includes access to the pedestrian Federal Law and gyroscope are designed to infrastructure such as sidewalks and curb ramps. All local governments must complete an Federal Funding Tied to Compliance measure the sidewalk surface at a implementation plan which details locations where the pedestrian infrastructure is not compliant with Legal Liability Issues rate of 10,000 records per second SENSOR ADA guidelines. CR BOX capturing highly accurate informa- WITH LASER PLATFORM & GYRO tion about slope and small surface 148TH AVE NE What Data are Jurisdictions Required to Track? Disabilities affect many people. In Bellevue approximately H1 Changes in sidewalk level of more than 村. H2 variations that can make a sidewalk 15,000 people have one or more disability. Not all Grade exceeding 8.3% on continuous runs (higher along road ok). SURFACE difficult to navigate disabilities are readily apparent: Below you see an Cross-slopes exceeding 2%. example of how two intersections might be perceived by Curb Ramps must comply with multiple requirements including slope, grade, width, landings, etc... an individual with a cognitive impairment: Sensor box includes: 1. A displacement laser Locations of obstructions in pedestrian corridor (texture/profile/height), More.... 2. Three accelerometers (inertial profiling), mp To tal Ramp Non-Compliant X slope 3. A gyroscope (pitch, roll, yaw), rb Ra sid Landing Panel Simple street crossing Complex, cluttered street crossing Cu idth 4 m ew Curb Ramps W lan in alk Flare 4. Optical trigger (reference), din g Slo wid th Crosswalk pin 5. GPS (general location), and gs urf e Sid e Detectable Warning ace flar 6. A DMI (travel distance system). Computer and data acquisition card are Non Compliant Obstruction 8.3 %m a x Heaving Locations Running Slope %m ax 1 0 used for data capture. in Ped Corridor 0.25" - 0.75' 2% max slope any direction in d m erre 3 f 0.75" - 1" e pr 4 Crosswalk TopCon GMS-2 hand held GPS Unit NE 20TH ST used for capture of curb ramp attributes. Non Compliant 1"Dor > Non Compliant Displacement 0.29 Compliant Curb Ramp R 0.49 0.27 ED R Sidewalks Cross Slope Characteristics EL 0.45 0.30 B 0.28 0.30 0.33 Methodology Bellevues project manager - Franz Loewenherz - worked with the Federal HIghway Administration (FHWA) to secure a prototype ULIP (Ultra Light Inertial 0.35 Profiler) which is a Segway scooter configured with several devices to measure slope, grade and displacements as it is ridden along the sidewalk. 0.25 0.28 0.45 0.27 0.37 A laser mounted on the bottom of the Segway measures displacement, while a gyroscope mounted on the front captures slopes. All of this data is processed by an on board computer running custom software and tied to GPS coordinates. Map 2 Further office processing allows for mapping and analyzing the locations of non-compliant features captured The map below shows the problem with relying on streaming GPS for in the field. This data is then used to create a transition plan which details how the city will make mapping purposes. Fortunately, the ULIP technology includes a Distance improvements to the pedestrian system. Measurement Instrument, which records distance from beginning of each data collection (usually 1 block). Using linear referencing, we can then map this data to sidewalk segments which are "heads up" digitized and The technical precision offered by Bellevues approach is identified as a best coded with IDs of the corresponding data collection. The result is much more spatialy accurate data. This does require an extra work effort of practice in ADA Compliance at Transportation Agencies: A Review digitizing all sidewalks. of Practices (NCHRP 20-07 Task 249), a Texas Transportation Institute study. The report notes that efforts such as those The black pts below indicate the same data point referenced to the GPS line and to the digitized line. Note the difference. at the City of Bellevue, Washington, that rely on the collection of large data sets at extremely fine spatial and Digitized Path temporal disaggregation levels have the potential to significantly automate the identification of non-compliant locations in the field. GPS Streaming Path Acknowledgements: Project Manager: Franz Loewenherz GIS Support: Zorba Conlen ULIP Fabricator: Starodub, Inc. Funding: Federal Highway Administration