News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

August 28, 2012

ADA requirements delay plans for levee trail

TERRE HAUTE — A plan to build a walking trail on top of the West Terre Haute Levee along the border of the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area has been delayed until park officials can determine how to meet a federal accessibility standard.

Keith Ruble, superintendent of the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department, said Monday that project bids scheduled for opening last week were pulled after the department learned an older set of plans had been placed out for bid.

The department also discovered a statement in the new plans from Green3 Design, which designed plans for the trail, that due to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) “the trail must have a 5 foot level distance between the trail’s edge, if less than this distance, install barriers” according to federal standards.

Ruble called the National Center for Accessibility at Indiana University which stated the trail would have to be 20 feet wide to meet ADA standards. Since the top of the levee is just 10 feet wide and has sloped edges, a barrier of a minimum of 4 inches tall must be put along the trail on both sides so a person in a wheelchair could not accidentally drive off the trail, Ruble said.

“We are back to square one on this, because this could really cost,” Ruble said. “A contractor I spoke with said it could double the cost.”

The proposed levee trail is nearly 2 miles long.

One concern is the material. Lumber could warp and not last long.

“We are between a rock and a hard place right now,” Ruble said.

Kara Kish, assistant park superintendent, said the park department will continue to study options for the trail, such as concrete rails, adding the park department has a federally funded, state-issued grant for the trail that will reimburse the county for 90 percent of its costs submitted through the fall of 2014.

Kish said she thinks the design company should have been more forward with the ADA responsibilities or show that the trail may not be financially feasible. The county paid the company $30,000 for designs.

“I am not ready to drop this. We will continue to look at this,” Kish said.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

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