GSA Adopts PROWAG

On July 3, 2024, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a final rule adopting the Access Board’s Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) as part of the Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Standards (ABAAS). The Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) is a civil rights law that requires federally constructed or leased facilities, and certain facilities constructed or leased with federal funds, to be accessible to people with disabilities. GSA’s standard applies to all facilities subject to the ABA except for facilities belonging to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Defense (DOD), and United States Postal Service (USPS), as they have their own standards.

Upon adoption of PROWAG, all new and altered public rights-of-way subject to ABAAS, such as roads in a national park or streets on a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) campus, will be required to comply with technical accessibility requirements. These requirements include accessibility features such as minimum sidewalk width, accessible pedestrian signals, accessible pedestrian loading zones, and accessible on-street parking.

Examples of how this new rule will benefit the public, and people with disabilities in particular, at new and modified pedestrian facilities, include:

• Shortening 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;

• Increasing sidewalk sizes and widths makes 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.

• Regulating the ground slope at passenger loading zones prevents them from being too steep for people with mobility disabilities to climb.

• Better audio and tactile warning systems, including audio signal warnings, truncated domes, and detectable warning pavers, increases pedestrian safety by alerting them to an imminent street crossing or to when they have the right-of-way to cross the street.

GSA is the first federal agency to adopt PROWAG for enforcement since the Board issued the guidelines in August of 2023. The Board applauds GSA’s swift work toward ensuring that people with disabilities have equal access to federal facilities. Read more in GSA’s news release.

The Board enforces accessibility standards issued under the ABA. If you have encountered or are aware of an accessibility barrier at a building or facility covered by the ABA, then please file a complaint with the Access Board.