Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant footpath

What is a natural way to make an ADA compliant footpath?  The key thing is it needs to be a hard, smooth surface for wheelchairs.

This will be hard to achieve with a natural process. The natural materials may not be difficult but keeping them together in such a way to be ADA hard surface compliant is difficult.

Concrete has natural materials but the processes are not natural. I have been to many parks that have recycled tires shredded and bonded together used as paths that are ADA compliant.

I suspect you may have to compromise on materials or the process.

You can read about the requirements here:
https://www.access-board.gov/ada/guides/chapter-3-floor-and-ground-surfaces/

What distance?

The reason footpaths aren’t suitable generally is because they are exposed to weather. Rain etc turns firm dry ground to mud. You could put a lot of effort into adjusting the ground, or potentially build a “roof” instead to ensure the path stays dry year round.

A simple wooden frame with roof panels is one option,  if you could get the same end result with eg sail cloth rigging or similar.

When you do come up with a proposal, you can contact an ADA rep at info@access-board.gov

I have been in touch with them regarding some work projects and they have been prompt and helpful. It has been a while since I contacted them so I cannot ensure that is still the case.

The key is to have something for them to consider. You can't say that you want a permie way to do a hard surface and expect them to give you an answer. You need to have a proposal and ask if they feel that surface meets the guidelines.

A boardwalk of cedar or black locust maybe? I don't think there's any reasonable hope of making it out of bamboo wattles or something. I suppose it depends somewhat on where the path is to be built. You might have more options in a desert -- pounded clay or something.

I'm actually working on two ADA compliant paths. Don't forget the access point to the trailhead start. This might be a starting point for your research. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recreation/programs/accessibility/pubs/htmlpubs/htm12232806/page21.htm

One trail is for a developing/upgrading an inclusive playground at an already established playground. We received a grant for 31k and that doesn't go far when we're talking ADA compliance.
The other is river access to a handicapped accessible kayak dock. In some areas the use of compacted granite will be used and at others asphalt will have to be used.

The Cedar Creek Falls trail outside of Yacolt, Washington was recently rebuilt to be ADA compliant. It features small graded gravel, a wood border and wheelchair turnouts at certain intervals. You can see it in this video:

The trail is shown on the second page of this campground map. It took quite a few volunteer groups to make that happen.

Is asphalt any better than concrete?

John C Daley wrote:Is asphalt any better than concrete?

Depends on your goals. It is less energy intensive (why it’s usually cheaper) but probably has more potential for chemical leaching.

Back to the OP, what is the climate and terrain? Availability of natural ish materials like limestone, or oyster shell, etc ?

R Scott wrote:Back to the OP, what is the climate and terrain? Availability of natural ish materials like limestone, or oyster shell, etc ?

It's an arid steppe climate in the Mid-Columbia region of southeast Washington, on an alluvial bluff whose soil is very silty, with sand, gravel, and river rock.  It's dry most of the year, 7 inches of rain per year, but moist/damp in the winter, sometimes with snow (I've seen 3 feet deep, but that's rare).  Not enough rain at any one time to erode a section of trail.  There are routes on the property which are not too steep, the soil or a pea gravel overlay can be compacted sufficiently just with foot traffic to be "firm and stable," and sufficient foot traffic can keep weeds down (I am witnessing that on paths I've been using for about a year.)  The path can be graded with a crown to prevent puddling (to keep it smooth for wheelchairs and keep people's feet out of mud).

This would be a walking path up a hill to give elementary school kids a safe path to walk to school.  Currently, they are not allowed to walk to school, partly because walking up the hill and over its crest on the shoulder of the nearby 50 mph road would be too dangerous; it would be a path of death for them; I hope to name this the "Path of Life," make a food forest along its edges, and promote permaculture to the kids and community in the process.

Robert Ray wrote:This might be a starting point for your research. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recreation/programs/accessibility/pubs/htmlpubs/htm12232806/page21.htm

Thank you!  This is very helpful.  It gave me lots of ideas for how to proceed, reflected in my previous message.

If we lived in a different climate, I would take concrete over asphalt. Our climate and ground heaving in the winter plays hell on concrete.  The compacted granite is far more forgiving than either.

I tend to use crushed limestone for this. It packs down, can be rolled for a nice even surface, and then "knits" itself together as the lime weathers. If you want to speed the process, you can mix in some hydrated lime. We've got lime quarries nearby so the material is cheap and readily available, but I know that some places may not have a readily accessible source.

If you don't have access to limestone then commercial road base aggregate mixes are made to compact well and bear compressive loads. Again, adding a little hydrated lime to the mix before you place it will help make a harder and smoother surface that will hold up to foot and wheelchair traffic.

It may be easier to build the path with a cross slope rather than a crown.
Using boards to set the levels and act as edges a cross slope will be easy.

Ok, I think I have a better idea of what you are trying to achieve. What is the actual distance needing to be covered?

I'm asking because there is a huge difference in difficulty between making a pedestrian-safe path and one suitable for wheelchairs. Both in cost and complexity. But making a walking path on the conditions you describe is likely to be much more achievable.

Here in the UK we have an extensive network of walking tracks through mountainous terrain. They are very popular and get a lot of foot traffic leading to erosion and treacherous conditions. For the past 20 years or so the National Trust has been building and maintaining  paths, and their focus in a lot of places is on building - using traditional drystone walling techniques - rock paths that will last 100 years or more. There is a bit of an art to it as the terrain generally has to be hand dug and the rocks carefully placed, but they are fantastic to walk on. Stones are laid to shed water, to give safe steps over very steep terrain, and to be immune to erosion.

If you are happy not having wheelchair access then a combination of your gravel on grade and some hand built rock steps where terrain is steeper could be a compromise solution. It's not perfect, but it's an improvement.

This sounds like a great project and I hope that you are able to achieve your goals, what an improvement for your community this could be!

I don't know if you aim to achieve the full ADA checklist of accessibility, what materials or equipment you have access to, but at its simplest, the path should be wide and stable, firm, and slip resistant.
I would still want to make sure that your slope and cross slope are as minimal as you can make them, possibly by adding switchbacks, and add defined edges and turnouts, rest spots, etc. How is access to the start and end of the path? Try to think about downpours, ice, users who might have crutches, kids navigating the area with heavy backpacks, younger siblings or older family members, community members coming to access the garden if it becomes a feature, things like that. If you can, talk to your neighbors about their needs and wants, which can have the additional benefit of getting other people interested and supportive, and help with sourcing materials or other things you need.

You might find some inspiration in the garden of Stephen Cantu, who has a permaculture orchard on a slope in San Diego that he has designed to be wheelchair accessible and has created something called the FIG (Friendly Inclusive Gardening) program. I believe he uses crushed concrete or other road material, compacted and topped with 2-3" decomposed granite with a binding agent on top for paths. Videos 1 2  linked to where he talks about his paths, and garden design process.

I have worked with ADA compliance issues since their inception. For well over 30 years I was a surveyor. I walked into organizations and checked them for compliance.  I encourage everyone who works with people with disabilities to get a copy of …and read…the law that  was passed in congress.  It is a brief read.

I cannot find any standards listed in the ADA.  The law, as passed by congress, calls for “reasonable accommodations”.  It provide little in the way of explaining what that is.

That said, your state and various funders may have more specific standards. Probably your Vocational rehabilitation office will have the best advice for
you.

As a surveyor, my interpretation was to check what was reasonable for the organization and the people it served.  I had different expectations for a 20 million a year organization than a 20 thousand a year organization.  

More often than not, people overacted.  I have seen organizations install an extra lowered water fountain when a paper cup holder would have addressed the problem.  

I once saw a college campus with expensive brass plaques with braille wording located throughout the campus.  Of course, a small percentage of people who are blind read braille….imagine placing your bare hands on cold brass in the winter….and how were the people who are blind supposed to see the plaques in the first place?

Keep in mind the person served.  For example we have all seen those ramps into curbs to make it easier for a person in a wheelchair to cross the street.   Those same ramps can represent a hazard for a person who is blind using a long cane.  The person who is blind may had lost the curb that tells him/ her that they are approaching a street.

Check with your nearest VR office.   The devil is in the details as to what a reasonable accommodation is.