ADA compliance - site arrival point vs road longitudinal grade 1

[ClemsonVet]

Looking at a 6 acre 50-60 unit multi fam site that once had city right of way frontage. Years back the construction of an interstate bisected that road the parcel fronts so it became a 575' 2 lane road to a dead end and was essentially retained as right of way but closed to public use. we are looking to rebuild that exact road as a private access drive to our site. the topography is pretty bad. this private drive will be more than 5% for about 400 lf until it enters the proposed complex and there is really no room to regrade it.

the city seems on board and willing to sell us the ROW because that alleviates their maintenance of the road but the question of putting an ADA sidewalk came up. i can assume that there could be a bus stop at the bottom of this drive in the future which could make it a "site access point".

would we be okay rebuilding the road (at more than 5% long slope because we have no choice) and placing a sidewalk along side at less than 2% cross slope? should we put signage up indicating that it is not an ADA compliant route or do something to protect us from future litigation? i will push back on doing the sidewalk at all but if the city digs in we'll be stuck with addressing this. i think its a gray area in the code.

sorry this was long, i attached snipit of the survey.

 

[ClemsonVet]

Found a guide through a colleague, thought i'd share. PROWAG - public right of way access guide

R302.5.1 Within Street or Highway Right-of-Way
Except as provided in R302.5.3, where pedestrian access routes are contained within a street or highway right-of-way, the grade of pedestrian access routes shall not exceed the general grade established for the adjacent street or highway.

 

[ACtrafficengr]

I'm assuming the road on the left is the one you're talking about. It doesn't look like there is any way to reduce the grade short of buying the corner parcel, which isn't really reasonable.

There are no signs in the MUTCD warning of ADA-noncompliant obstructions. Perhaps there should be, but you can't just make up non-standard signs. Unless this will be a gated community, the MUTCD applies.

For now, make the sidewalk as close to compliance as you can, and document the reasons why. Send the documentation in with your approval application.

The PROWAG manual is currently some of the best guidance we have. It's worth noting that it's a forthcoming regulation (that's been stalled in rulemaking for a loooooong time).

My glass has a v/c ratio of 0.5

Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. -

http://xkcd.com/319/