The General Services Administration (GSA) recently published a final rule adopting the public right-of-way accessibility guidelines issued by the Access Board. Under the rule, which went into effect on September 3, GSA’s federal new construction, alteration, and renovation projects will have to comply with the Access Board’s guidelines.

For new and modified facilities this will mean ensuring accessibility, including by addressing:

• Travel distances from on-street parking to building entrances, making it easier to access government buildings while increasing efficiency for everyone who uses street parking.
• Sidewalk sizes and widths, making it easier for people to pass on the sidewalk, reducing accidental collisions, and better accommodating mobility aids such as walkers, rollators, and both manual and electric wheelchairs.
• Ground slope at passenger loading zones to prevent them from being too steep for people with mobility disabilities to climb.
• Audio and tactile warning systems, including audio signal warnings, truncated domes, and detectable warning pavers, to increase safety by alerting pedestrians to an imminent street crossing and to when they have the right-of-way to cross the street.