Making the City of Seattle more accessible to all its residents is a big job and one that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) takes seriously. Thanks to the Bridging the Gap (BTG) Transportation Initiative passed by Seattle voters in 2006, SDOT is making progress.
Making a city more accessible covers a lot ground and crosses over to many types of projects. SDOT has been working to help improve transit service in the city, make its road smoother and easier to navigate and make the city more bicycle friendly. Making Seattle an easier and safer place to move about has been a big part of BTG. Whether its sidewalk repair work, installing new sidewalks, restriping crosswalks or installing new pedestrian crossings, Seattle is steadily achieving that goal.
A key element in this progress is SDOT’s program of installing ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) – compliant curb ramps across the city. SDOT has been working hard to update sidewalks currently without curb ramps and making sure that curb ramps are included in every new sidewalk project. Through 2012, with funding from BTG, SDOT installed 726 new curb ramps across the city and 130 more are planned for installation this year. Ultimately, our goal of creating safe street crossings throughout the city will not be complete until all corners have curb ramps. For more information on BTG and the programs it funds please visit the web site.