The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced a final rule amending the Federal Management Regulation to adopt the new accessibility guidelines issued by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board).

The Access Board’s guidelines establish that pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way dedicated to transportation are readily accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. The GSA has adopted these guidelines, creating 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.

With over 300,000 federal buildings nationwide, the federal government, led by the GSA as the nation’s largest landlord, is the country’s biggest property manager. In support of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order Nos. 13985, 14035, and 14091, executive agencies are leading by example to make the federal government more accessible to the communities it serves.

This new rule ensures the GSA’s federal new construction, alteration, and renovation projects will comply with the Access Board’s guidelines.

“Government works best when it works for everyone, and one of the ways we do that is by ensuring all members of the community have equitable access to the government, its services, and its facilities,” said GSA Deputy Administrator Katy Kale, who serves as vice chair of the Access Board.

Examples of how this new rule will benefit the public, particularly people with disabilities, 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.

“Federal buildings are oftentimes the primary way members of the public interact with their government,” said GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Elliot Doomes. “By promoting physical accessibility, this policy will continue to make human-centered design central to our work, while also providing employees and visitors with disabilities the opportunity to take part in all the programs, services, and activities in our buildings.”

ALSO READ: Back to Basics: The ADA’s Impact on Facility Compliance

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