2. Background
2.1 Accessibility standards
Recognizing the importance of accessible streets to wheelchair users and others with mobility impairments, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets out detailed standards for Departments of Transport as well as building owners to abide by. A key provision in the ADA concerns curb cuts. Where sidewalks meet an intersection, or a pedestrian crossing exists, the ADA mandates that the sidewalk surface be cut away in a smooth ramp that leads to the street with suitable width and a sufficiently shallow incline. However, while the ADA is widely recognized as a legislative advance, disability rights groups complain that it goes un-implemented, with many street corners posing insuperable obstacles to their users. Wheelchair users or the visually impaired can be blocked or endangered by, among other things: sudden drop-offs, crumbling and uneven concrete, curb cuts that lead directly into oncoming traffic at the center of an intersection. The ADA also mandates detectable warnings such as stripes or bumps in the curb ramp surface, which are frequently lacking or eroded.
2.2 State of accessibility in NYC