ADA Compliance:
Self-evaluations and Transition
Plans
Hennepin County’s Experience
APA Minnesota State Conference
September 28, 2011
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Hennepin County
• Population: 1.15 mil.
• Urban metro area
– Minneapolis
– First ring suburbs
• Suburbs
– Second ring suburbs
• Rural
– Beyond suburbs
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Diversity in its people, population
density, land use, and infrastructure
Hennepin County
Transportation Department
• Roadways
– 573 centerline miles
– 1,679 lane-miles
– > 2 billion vehicle-miles-traveled
• 775 Traffic Signals
• 908 Bicycle System Miles -planned
• 543 Bicycle System Miles -built
• Sidewalks
– 226 miles of county roads have
sidewalk
• 11,000 Curb Ramps
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Presentation Overview
• Hennepin County – a little context
• History - Transition Plans, county compliance
• Hennepin County Steps to Compliance
• Complete Streets
• Costs
• Takeaways
• Why is this important to planners?
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It’s 2011 – Where are the Transition
Plans?
• Transition Plans Due ~1992
• Then
– Design guidance and standards unavailable or
incomplete for public rights of Way
• Now
– More technical guidance, expectations of
accessibility, and guidelines for enforcement
– Public expectation of greater accessibility
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A Brief History of Hennepin County’s
ADA Compliance
• Transition Plan (buildings and grounds) – 1990s
• 1993 and 1997 Pedestrian Curb Ramp Projects
• Capital Projects (1990’s to today) Follow ADA
• 2009 – Present
– Self-evaluation and Transition Plan for its public
rights of way
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Complaint to FHWA - 1
• Grievance filed with FHWA against
MnDOT and local agencies alleging
violations of ADA.
• 2009 - Discussions between the FHWA,
MnDOT, and local agencies to resolve and
respond to grievance
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Complaint to FHWA - 2
• Hennepin County’s 1990s ADA Transition
Plan was silent or incomplete in the area
of the county’s public rights of way
• Because of this, in late 2009, Hennepin
County Transportation begins an effort to
formalize its ADA compliance efforts for
its public rights of way.
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Hennepin’s Steps to Compliance
• Self-evaluation
• Transition Plan
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Engagement
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Self-evaluation
…to perform a self-evaluation of its current policies, practices, and
programs.
This self-evaluation will identify
what policies and
practices impact accessibility…
examine the condition of
the county’s built PCR/PAR environment
and identify any needs for PCR/PAR
infrastructure...
…the self-evaluation will
These are requirements of
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28 CFR 35.105
Self-evaluation
Pedestrian Curb Ramps
Policies & Practices
Sidewalks
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Traffic Signals and APS
Self-evaluation
• Overview for Field Work
– Student workers to collect data
• Curb ramps, sidewalks, traffic signals
– Handheld data collection device (e.g.
Trimble Juno SB)
– Data evaluated by comparing to ADA
standards
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Self-evaluation - Pedestrian Curb
Ramps - 1
• Data Collected
– Pedestrian activity
– Ramp type (diagonal, perpendicular, parallel, others)
– Location (corner, median, mid-block, pork chop, etc.)
– Detectable warning (present, condition)
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Self-evaluation - Pedestrian Curb
Ramps - 2
• Data Collected
– Ramp width
– Running slope
– Cross-slope
– Landing (4’X4’, slope, gutter condition, gutter slopes)
14 – Photograph
– Condition rating
Self-evaluation - Sidewalks
• Data Collected
– Pedestrian activity
– Sidewalk width
– Sidewalk running
slope
– Sidewalk cross-slope
– Photograph
– Condition rating
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Curb return extends into
pedestrian way
Self-evaluation - Traffic Signals/APS
• Data Collected
– Pedestrian activity
– APS
• Present or not
– Pedestrian signal head
• present, type
– Pedestrian phase
• automatic, activated
– Push button location
• signal pole, ped. station
– Crosswalk type
• marked, unmarked
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Complete Streets Inventory - 1
• A “high-level” inventory to answer the
question, “what currently exists on our county
roads?”
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
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number of vehicle lanes
sidewalks
bike lanes
on street parking
signed bike routes
trails, multiuse trails
transit stops
Complete Streets Inventory - 2
• Why Mention in ADA Presentation
– ADA and Complete Streets complement the
other
– Information gathered in CS inventory proved
valuable when reporting to policy makers and
elected officials on need for and scope of
County ADA responsibilities
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Complete Streets Inventory - 3
Summary of ped. ramps for
county roads 1 – 34
(~ ½ of system)
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Self-evaluation - Policies & Practices
• Review Policies & Practices
– Department staff will review
– How do they impact accessibility? favorable
/unfavorable
• Policy Examples
– Complete Streets Policy
– Cost Participation Policy
– Recommended Urban Landscape/Streetscape
Guidelines
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Hennepin’s Steps to Compliance
• Self-evaluation
• Transition Plan
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Engagement
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Transition Plan - 1
Hennepin
County
Transportation
is developing a
Transition Plan
According to
28 CFR
35.150(d)
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Draft
Interim
Transition
Plan
Transition Plan - 2
For Hennepin County, the Transition Plan will:
1) propose changes to those policies and
practices…if any, that may limit accessibility and the
full participation of individuals with disabilities, that were
identified in the department’s self-evaluation…,
2) list any physical barriers to
accessibility… that were identified in the
department’s self-evaluation of its services,
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Transition Plan - 3
Continued: For Hennepin County, the Transition Plan will:
3) set out a plan which will describe in detail how
the department will make the county’s services accessible
and allow the opportunity for the full participation of
individuals with disabilities, and
4) lay out a schedule for the
implementation of any needed changes as identified
in the department’s self-evaluation.
This is a requirement of
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28 CFR 35.150(d)
Self-Evaluation & Transition Plan
Process Required by Law
Hennepin County Approach
2010
Selfevaluation
Transition
Plan
Interim
Transition
Plan
2010 - 2011
Complete
Streets
Inventory
SelfBegin in 2011 evaluation
expected after 2012
-Emphasis on outreach to
individuals with disabilities
-Invite public to open
house
- Allow the public to participate by
commenting at each step
- Opportunity for public
review and comment
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- Include an emphasis on
outreach to individuals
with disabilities
Final
Transition
Plan
Estimated Costs – Self-evaluation
• Cost of developing Selfevaluation work plan is
paid by existing payroll
budget for
Transportation
Department staff
• Only cost above existing
budget will be for data
collection work in the
field
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Costs
For
Notes
$64,000
$96,000
Annual
labor cost
for initial
data
collection
Anticipate using
2-3 teams
consisting of 2
interns each
($16,000/intern
/season)
$1,200
(one
time
cost)
Trimble
Equipment per
Juno SB,
team
GPS
camera,
smart level
$5,000
(one
time
cost)
Pathfinder
SDK and
Pathfinder
Office
Software for
data collection
and use
Estimated Costs – Transition Plan
• Cost of writing Transition Plan
– included in existing payroll budget for
Transportation Department staff
• Using department staff to write plan
• Internal review and comment process
• Public review and comment
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Hennepin’s Steps to Compliance
• Self-evaluation
• Transition Plan
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Engagement
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Education - Technical
28 CFR 35.151(a) …shall be designed
and constructed…
•Pedestrian Facility Design
•ADA Transition Plans
•Accessible Pedestrian Signals
•Temporary Pedestrian Access Routes
•ADA-Compliant Pedestrian Curb Ramps
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Education - Technical
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Education – Diversity
• Diversity
– Disabilities and different
abilities
• Responding to the Public
– Provide context
– Listen
People understand that you cannot
always give them what they want, but
they always want you to listen.
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Hennepin’s Steps to Compliance
• Self-evaluation
• Transition Plan
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Engagement
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Provide Infrastructure - 1
• Capital Projects
– All capital project are
designed using current
ADA standards,
guidance, and best
practices
• Annual Funding
Dedicated to ADA
Infrastructure
– For 2012-2016 (requested)
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• $200,000 - Sidewalks
• $600,000 – Ped. Ramps
our capital program for
2011 - $56.6 million
2012-2015 - $184.4 million
Provide Infrastructure - 2
• 2011 Pedestrian Curb
Ramp Projects
– One-time funding of
federal dollars
– Replace ~342 ped. ramps
in Minneapolis
• Reasonable
Accommodations After a
Request
– APS
– Repair of pedestrian curb
ramps
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Hennepin’s Steps to Compliance
• Self-evaluation
• Transition Plan
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Engagement
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Engagement – Open Houses
• 4 Open Houses in Early 2011
– Effort to invite individuals
with disabilities
– Engage public on ADA issues
– Encouraged public to
participate by commenting on
Transition Plan
– ~50 attendees from public,
disability groups, other
agencies, etc
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Engagement – Grievance Procedure
• Grievance Procedure
– 28 CFR 35.107(b)
– Formal process for public to seek prompt and
equitable resolution of accessibility
complaint, concern, comment, or other
grievance
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Engagement – Grievance Procedure
• Open Door Policy
– public can contact department staff at
anytime to informally discuss an ADA or
accessibility issues
– Public does not always need to file a formal
grievance to seek action or resolution of an
issue
– Public may still file a grievance at anytime
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Engagement
• Human Resources
• Policy Makers
• Assistant County Attorney
• County Administration
• Hennepin County Board
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Why Important to Planners?
• Contact with public
• Interactions with others:
– Elected officials
– Administration/policy makers
– Engineers
• Infrastructure built with development
• Writing code/policy
• Understand the “Big Picture”
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Why Provide Accessibility?
• If you manage the public rights of way:
– It’s the law under ADA
– Benefits for the public
– Benefits for individuals with disabilities
(different abilities)
– It’s the right thing to do
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Resource Documents
• 28 CFR 35
• The ADA Title II Technical Assistance Manual
• Public Rights of Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG)
• Minnesota Department of Transportation’s ADA Transition Plan
• Clarification on FHWA’s Oversight Role in Accessibility
• Questions and Answers About ADA/Section 504
• A Guide to Disability Rights Laws
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Questions
Contact:
Peter M Lemke, P.E.
Senior Transportation Engineer
Hennepin County Transportation Department
1600 Prairie Drive | Medina, MN 55340
Office 612 596 0394 | Blackberry 612 990 0654
pete.lemke@co.hennepin.mn.us
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