More than 39,000 tripping hazards were identified in a survey of San Diego sidewalks that is about half done, according to a report presented Wednesday to the City Council's Infrastructure Committee.
City employees and college engineering students started mapping sidewalks in January, noting and photographing broken pavement, curbs that do not conform to the Americans With Disabilities Act and the like.
So far, about 3,100 miles of sidewalks have been surveyed — about half of city-maintained walkways, according to the report. Sidewalk crews have concentrated on the city's older neighborhoods.
“The guidelines that started out in 1992 aren't the same ones we face today, so today they're more stringent, you have to put in a curb ramp with very specific measurements. It has to have the raised yellow bumps and back when it was passed it wasn't quite that defined,” City Councilman Mark Kersey, who chairs the infrastructure committee, said.
The survey — along with assessments of parks and city-owned buildings — is aimed at giving Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council an idea of how far behind the city is in making repairs. In dollar terms, estimates are in the $2 billion range.
“We have a 75/25 cost sharing program here at the city, so if a property owner has a sidewalk that's busted up and they'd like to make repairs to it, the city's going to split the cost of that,” Kersey said. “In years past, it’s been 50/50 cost sharing and this year we decided to up the ante a little bit and the city's share of that program is 75 percent of the total project cost.”
Tripping hazards are defined as cracks or other problems where the pavement is offset at least a half-inch.
Tree roots are blamed for about 3,700 hazards. More than 14,000 curb breaks do not conform to designs for accommodating people in wheelchairs, the report said. Some curbs were poured before ADA was signed into law in 1992, and requirements have since evolved, said James Nagelvoort, the director of public works.
"As ADA has been implemented throughout the country, you have varying moments where they've changed the legislation, or because of court action or lawsuits, it's changed the requirements," Nagelvoort said. "I'd say that's the majority of the story ... that the day (the ramps) went in, those individuals thought that they were compliant, that they were meeting the requirements of the day, but the world has changed on them."
Councilwoman Myrtle Cole said she has seen ramps on corners where there are no sidewalks.
Whenever a street with a crosswalk is trenched for water lines or other utilities, ADA regulations are triggered, and the law requires wheelchair ramps to be installed, Nagelvoort said. Public funds for water and wastewater projects, however, cannot be appropriated for building sidewalks that would connect to the new ramps, he said.
Committee members voted to hand up the report to the full City Council.
The survey should be done in January and the final report issued in February.
