California town to add 87 curb cuts

From The Fresno Bee in California:

The Clovis City Council approved a plan Dec. 7 that will pave the way for dozens of curb cuts over the next few months.

The city will build or rebuild 87 curb cuts after the council accepted a contractor's bid of $155,720. Curb cuts are required to have a slight upward slope from street level to allow easy access for wheelchair users and the disabled.

The city was sued this year to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit demanded that the city generate an inventory of all its curb cuts and know the location of those that do not meet state and federal standards. In approving the contract, council members made no comment.

"We do have an inventory of the total number of curb cuts in the city, but we don't know the number that are compliant," said John Holt, the city's ADA coordinator. "The city literally has thousands of corners." The inventory is expected to be done by July, he said.

Priority was given to those that appear to get the most use, he said.

The ramps are being paid for with money from Measure C, the countywide transportation sales tax, and federal Community Development Block Grant funds. Work will begin in January and should be finished by April, said Steve White, Clovis city engineer.

The lawsuit said curb cuts not meeting requirements are barriers to the disabled. The suit catalogued curb ramps with too-steep slopes, abrupt elevation differentials to sidewalks and locations without curb cuts.

Several more ADA projects are heading to the City Council next year, White said.

Holt said the city already was working on the inventory before the lawsuit, which was filed in March.

But despite the city's aggressiveness in addressing the first round of curb cuts, hundreds remain and completing the work could take several years, Holt said.

And, he added: "We are talking a lot of money."