GSA adopts new accessibility guidelines for federal properties

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) adopted a new rule with new accessibility guidelines for federal buildings.

The rule establishes that pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way are readily accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. GSA’s action creates a uniform federal standard that aims to ensure all new and modified pedestrian facilities, such as sidewalks and crosswalks, are accessible and meet the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, as amended.

The new rule requires enhanced accessibility features, including pedestrian signals and alternate access routes. The new standards:

• Increase sidewalk sizes and widths to make it easier for people to pass on the sidewalk, reducing accidental collisions and better accommodating mobility aids such as walkers, rollators, and wheelchairs.
• Regulate the ground slope at passenger loading zones, preventing them from being too steep for people with mobility disabilities to climb.
• Mandate better audio and tactile warning systems, including audio signal warnings, truncated domes, and detectable warning pavexxrs, increasing pedestrian safety by alerting pedestrians to an imminent street crossing or to when they have the right-of-way to cross the street.

This new rule is applicable to all federal new construction, alterations, and renovation projects.