As planning for the Central Corridor light rail transit line continues,
questions are being raised about the issue of accessibility to the
station platforms along the 11-mile route. Issues of access were raised
during a series of public hearings on the light rail preliminary design
plans, which wrapped up this summer.
The Central Corridor
would extend between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Metropolitan
Council will submit preliminary plans for the $892 million line
to the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) in early September.
FTA approval for the project is crucial as the federal government
would pay half of the project’s construction
costs.
Only a handful of people raised questions about accessibility at the
recent municipal consent hearings, which were sponsored by the Minnesota
Department of Transportation (MnDOT), Hennepin and Ramsey counties,
Hennepin and Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority boards, and the
cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
One of the issues that
will affect access at stations is public art and how art is incorporated
into each station design. During the hearings and at meetings of
the Metropolitan Council’s
Central Corridor Management Committee, much attention has been paid
to public art. Elected officials have pushed hard for much public
art to be added to station plans, saying that the stations otherwise
will be sterile and bland in appearance.
But Metropolitan Council
Chairman Peter Bell has told the committee he isn’t inclined
to change the staff recommendations. He and project staff note
there is a move nationally toward standardized station design.
Stations have to be
accessible to the disabled and comply with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), said Bell. He noted that Metropolitan Council advisory
committees are pushing hard on the access issues. Members of the
Central Corridor Community Advisory Council who represent the disability
community have maintained a strong and unified position regarding
the importance of station accessibility and continuity. On Hiawatha
Corridor, community groups and artists were extensively involved
in the station design process. Bell said that has resulted in stations
that have different configurations. That has raised questions about
access. “Every station on Hiawatha
is different and riders have to figure out how to navigate in them.”
At one of this summer’s
hearings, activist Darrel Paulsen pointed out that station design
can play a key role in how usable stations are for riders. Paulsen
is a wheelchair user.
“We want people with disabilities to feel safe and comfortable
in stations,” he said. “When stations are laid out in
different manners and fixtures are designed differently from station
to station, it can be very difficult for transit riders with disabilities
to use them.”
Anne White, chair of the District Councils Collaborative (DCC), said
neighborhood groups along the light rail line also have concerns that
stations be accessible as well as attractive. One red flag the DCC
is raising is that at some platforms, rail riders have to travel down
a sidewalk in the middle of the street. The DCC wants more marked mid-block
crossings, saying those would be safer.
Here are the key issues tied to light rail transit access issues during
station design and construction:
• Continuity is
extremely important and each station has to have similarities in
regard to location of ticket machines, benches, boarding areas
and emergency help buttons should be in the same location on all
platforms and easily accessible for everyone.
• Benches and accessible
seating need to be provided at each station and need to be located
both inside and outside of the sheltered areas.
• All routes leading to the station need to be fully accessible.
If the station is elevated, or on a hill, consider all routes of access
to the station. What is the safest route for everyone, including
persons with disabilities?
• Additional space needs to be provided for the pay machines. People should
not be standing on top of each other, waiting in line to use the
machine.
• The gap between
the station platform and car should be as narrow as possible, but
measuring no wider then 2.5 inches at the widest point.
• Provide
more efficient heaters at the stations that are accessible to people
with disabilities and are powerful enough and designed so that
the heat flow actually reaches the people in the shelters.
• Make sure art work does not obstruct the view on the platforms,
not only up and down the track, but at the sides of the platform. It
is also important that the shelter walls and other dividers have
some markings on them, so that individuals with low vision will be
able to see them and move around them accordingly. People need to
see the connecting LRT and buses traffic.
• Make sure that
connecting intersections have accessible pedestrian signals which
will warn people with low vision or no vision when to safely access
the platforms and train.
The list was developed by Rozanne Severance, Ken Rodgers and Margot
Imdieke Cross who serve on the LRT Central Corridor Community Advisory
Council and the Transportation Accessibility Advisory Committee (TAAC).
Information was also provided by Access Press Assistant Editor Jane
McClure. ![end of story]()
