8 MAJOR ROADBLOCKS TO INCLUSIVE STREETS

THE DANGEROUS CROSS SLOPE

Because street design often makes the car king at the peril of pedestrians, the ROW is made up of not just many lanes of traffic, but also curb cuts for driveways.

That often means blocks and blocks of sidewalks broken up by dangerous cross slopes.

And the accompanying tilt helps cars leave a driveway at an angle that meets the street without bottoming out, but for wheelchair users, it can be uncomfortable at best — and hazardous at worst.

It gets more precarious when there is little-to-no ROW for the sidewalk, and things like trash and recycling bins block the path, forcing wheelchair users to go out into traffic to complete their journey.

The answer it to take back some of the traffic lanes for human beings. 

Rather than a cross slope in the sidewalk, it should be on the street side of the pedestrian way.

The driveway can meet the five-foot-wide level sidewalk, then tilt down to the street.