Sidewalks / crosswalks in Illinois

[brad]

For at least the past few years, I've noticed that every road that gets resurfaced in my area also has the sidewalks that empty into the street ripped out and replaced. There is nothing wrong with the condition of the sidewalks but low and behold they pull them out and replace them with almost identical sidewalks. There appears to be a new red-ish, plastic-ish pad at the end before you go into the street, which I assume is for safety. But why? I can only imagine there must be a silly Illinois law that requires this waste and additional expense. True?

[ILRoad55]

Those red pads are for blind people. It's got a bumpy surface so when the blind people step on it, it lets them know that they are about to cross a road. It can be detected by feet or with a walking cane. Over them these have changed from the sidewalk being a regulation colored sidewalk with a bumpy surface to red cement sidewalk with a bumpy surface to now red plastic panels with bumpy surfaces. I also think there are different designs depending on the intersection such as an intersection with stoplights or one with no lights.

[jeffandnicole]

For at least the past few years, I've noticed that every road that gets resurfaced in my area also has the sidewalks that empty into the street ripped out and replaced. There is nothing wrong with the condition of the sidewalks but low and behold they pull them out and replace them with almost identical sidewalks. There appears to be a new red-ish, plastic-ish pad at the end before you go into the street, which I assume is for safety. But why? I can only imagine there must be a silly Illinois law that requires this waste and additional expense. True?

It's a federal requirement to assist blind and those that have visual issues. Any road project throughout the nation requires upgrading the intersections to current federal standards, including crosswalks, sidewalks, push-button walk/don't walk assemblies, etc.

They exist in every state in the country. It is by far not an Illinois thing.

[Revive 755]

Those red pads are for blind people. It's got a bumpy surface so when the blind people step on it, it lets them know that they are about to cross a road. It can be detected by feet or with a walking cane. Over them these have changed from the sidewalk being a regulation colored sidewalk with a bumpy surface to red cement sidewalk with a bumpy surface to now red plastic panels with bumpy surfaces.

For the detectable warnings, they do not have to be red, they just have to contrast with the adjacent sidewalk - IIRC, yellow, black, grey, and that rusty iron shade of brown are also somewhat common.

I also think there are different designs depending on the intersection such as an intersection with stoplights or one with no lights.

I believe the geometry of the intersection is a bit more of a factor than the type of traffic control at the intersection - but I would have to check to see if there is less combining of ADA ramps (example) at signalized intersections versus other intersections.

[quickshade]

Just to add a bit more to what everyone is saying these have been require by law since 2001. Any roadway built after that requires this as per ADA standards. If it was built before 2001 they are not required unless the road is upgraded or repaved (potholes don't count as an upgrade).

They were required on all rail platforms in 1991 but they were suspended from sidewalk installs in 1994 for further studies. The law went into effect again with some minor changes for sidewalks in 2001. The federal government has offered grant assistance to smaller communities to speed up the process of getting all sidewalks done and to help offset the cost for communities that could not afford to do the upgrades. There have been some studies done on the slippery conditions they provide in wet and/or icy weather and some minor improvements have been made to the products with further improvements still to come.

[Rick Powell]

For a while, Illinois was interpreting the federal ADA law to mean that for a simple resurfacing project, the sidewalk walking path was not being disturbed, and the crosswalk sidewalk approach didn't have to be addressed (they did do the ADA improvements if it was a major reconstruction, or when the municipality came forward and offered to share in the cost). They got a contrary opinion from the state attorney general's office (and maybe there was some federal pressure), and now every crosswalk sidewalk approach has to be made compliant any time the adjacent roadway is worked on.

[JMAN_WiS&S]

There are many many crosswalk-sidewalk ramps in my city that do not have the yellow ADA "rumble pads" and even many crosswalk entrances that dont even have ramps in older neighborhoods. They just redid the sidewalk all along the front of my high school this summer and the contractor even pulled the curb out in some places but they didn't put ramps in at any of the 8 crosswalks on the public road. I would have thought the city would have required it since there are ramps on the other side.

[Rothman]

NY has been upgrading sidewalks to be ADA compliant for years.  Still a major issue.