What's Wrong With This Photo - Parking - 4/21/21
Please look at the photo on the right. This is a photo of two Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible parking spaces at a hotel in Columbus, GA. The two parking spaces share an access aisle. The main entrance to the hotel is on the right. So what’s wrong?
HINT: How does the disabled individual get from the car to the front entrance?
2010 ADA Standard 502.3, [Parking Spaces] Access Aisle, states, “Access aisles serving parking spaces shall comply with [Standard] 502.3. Access aisles shall adjoin an accessible route. Two parking spaces shall be permitted to share a common access aisle.”
Advisory 502.3, Access Aisle, states, “Accessible routes must connect parking spaces to accessible entrances. In parking facilities where the accessible route must cross vehicular traffic lanes, marked crossings enhance pedestrian safety, particularly for people using wheelchairs and other mobility aids. Where possible, it is preferable that the accessible route not pass behind parked vehicles.”
ANSWER: So in this installation an individual must go from the access aisle out into the vehicular path of travel to get to the front entry. And if another vehicle is parked in the other space, that disabled individual is required to go behind that other vehicle. See the photo below. Although compliance with Advisories is not mandatory, this is not the safest installation.
A better installation would be to add an accessible route across the front of these accessible parking spaces that leads to the front entrance of the hotel without going out into the vehicular path. There is room for that through the landscape installations between the ADA parking and the front entrance. See the photo below.
Route Option Across the Landscaped Area