GOV
Overview
Approximately 50,000 people living in the City of St. Louis have disabilities. “Disability” refers to a lot of different kinds of impairments that people experience—difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, thinking, learning, managing emotions, and various other human conditions. Leading “ordinary” lives is often hard for people with disabilities. For example, the inability to read a menu, go up steps, or hear directions can make it difficult to order food, visit neighbors, or find a location.
The City of St. Louis cannot solve all those problems. But it can make its facilities and programs more usable—“accessible“—for people with disabilities. It can send water bills in Braille or audio. It can make sidewalks more easily passable. It can provide sign language interpretation at public events. It already does a lot to reduce these problems, but there is more to do.
Draft ADA Transition Plan
With input from the public, community stakeholders, and City departments, the Board of Public Service has developed the draft ADA Transition Plan that will guide us as we work to remove barriers to access for all St. Louisans.
The City is in the process of revising the draft Transition Plan and needs your help! Please review the plan, provide input, and check back here for more information on attending a community outreach event (locations and times are to be determined).
Take the Survey
The Board of Public Service and Office on the Disabled have developed a community engagement survey to gather information on how residents access the programs, services, and activities throughout the City and provide an opportunity to identify barriers to access throughout the City.
Online Survey Alternatives
If preferred, you may fill out a PDF survey and submit it in any of the following ways:
- Email: ADA_STL@stlouis-mo.gov.
- Fax: (314) 622-4028
- Mail:
Board of Public Service
Attn: ADA Transition Plan Public Survey
City Hall, Room 301
1200 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
If you would like a paper survey, please contact the Office on the Disabled at (314) 622-3686 or ADA_STL@stlouis-mo.gov.
Community Engagement
The City hosted a series of meetings to answer residents' questions, gather feedback, and provide information on how citizens and organizations can assist the City in the development of the Plan. Past meeting materials can be viewed below.
Past Meeting Materials
About the Project
The City is working on this project to address these issues in a more organized way. The history of barriers to access for people with disabilities is long. And, so is the City's commitment to eliminating those barriers. In 1974, the City enacted ordinance 56770, providing for the construction of "slanted curbing" on sidewalks at intersections. Since then, the City has worked on many projects to improve the accessibility for all residents. While this project will not solve everything, the City is making lists of all those barriers and making a schedule for fixing them over time. The City is now doing so because it the right thing to do.
But it is also doing so because Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires it. As the law puts it, the City administration is undertaking a “Self-Evaluation” to identify the problems and developing an “ADA Transition Plan” to schedule the elimination of those problems. While the City has been actively improving accessibility for all residents for the past 45 years, this Transition Plan will combine these past efforts and help guide improvements moving forward.
To do this work, the City must address three parts of City government – streets and sidewalks, buildings and parks, and programs and policies.
There are approximately 2,000 miles of sidewalk in the City. By summer 2021, the City surveyed 175 miles of sidewalk. There are 347 City-owned buildings in the City. By summer 2021, the City evaluated 11. The City has very little money to allocate to eliminating problems with streets and sidewalks and buildings and parks. But it does eliminate those barriers every time it works on an intersection or other facility. And over time, it will find more resources to further this work.
Project Schedule
| Phase 1 of the ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
|---|---|
| Winter 2020 | Project kickoff |
| Establish a methodology to review pedestrian assets in the public right-of-way and City-owned property, including buildings and parks | |
| Develop a framework of Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
| Spring 2020 | Develop a City-wide prioritization map |
| Develop a priority list of City-owned properties for future self-evaluation | |
| Summer 2020 | Data collection on priority pedestrian assets based on City-wide prioritization map |
| Begin community engagement | |
| Fall 2020 | Community engagement meetings |
| Review policies and procedures for select City departments | |
| Winter 2021 through end of Fall 2022 | Self-evaluation: City buildings, properties, and parks |
| Draft framework of Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
| Develop a schedule for completing the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
| Winter through Spring 2023 | Public comment period |
| Summer 2023 | Implementation |
| Phase 2 of the ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan | |
|---|---|
| Future phases of the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan will include additional self-evaluation, as well as projects and policy changes to eliminate barriers to access. |
Contact Us
Office on the Disabled
David Newburger, Commissioner
Andrew Lackey, Deputy Commissioner
Phone: (314) 622-3686
Board of Public Service
Eric Bothe, P.E., Project Manager
Phone: (314) 641-8379
Email: ADA_STL@stlouis-mo.gov
