diagonal ramps – Getting Around Sacramento

Additional posts on Broadway Complete Streets are available at category ‘Broadway Complete Streets‘.

Many of the corner ADA ramps already installed and to be installed as part of the Broadway Complete Streets project are diagonal ramps. Diagonal ramps were a common solution in the past for corners because they save a little bit of money, and sometimes avoid drain inlets that perpendicular ramp would conflict with. Changing drain inlet locations can be expensive. However, diagonal ramps have never been the optimal solution for corners, and since August 2023, they are not permitted under PROWAG (Public Right of Way Accessibility Guidelines), except under rare circumstances. In those rare circumstances, the ramp must be completely contained within the two crosswalks, which often leads to awkward crosswalks.

There are very few diagonal ramps in the Sacramento central city, so it is surprising that they will be so common at the edge of the central city, Broadway, as part of a complete streets project.

Some transportation agencies have been claiming that they don’t need to follow PROWAG since it has not yet been adopted by USDOJ and USDOT, however, that just means that it is not yet legally enforceable on agencies. But the regulation has been promulgated and published and is now the law.

The project engineer for Broadway Complete Streets has claimed that the diagonal ramps are specified because of “design constraints”. I have looked at every corner where a diagonal ramp was placed, and I see nothing that constitutes a constraint. It may be that what the city means is that it didn’t fit in the budget to install perpendicular ramps, but that is not a valid exception in PROWAG. It is worth remembering that the concrete being installed under this project will be in place for at least 30 years, so that means the city is constructing corners and ramps that are already outmoded, and will be far more so in 30 years.

Of the 15 locations that will have new diagonal ramps, and the 2 that apparently will be unchanged, the northwest corner of Broadway and 18th Street will serve as an example. The other three corners here have perpendicular ramps, but for unknown reasons, the northwest has a diagonal ramp.

photo of Broadway & 18th St diagonal ramp — *Broadway & 18th St diagonal ramp*

The diagram below, from NACTO, shows perpendicular ramps. Note also the tight turning radius, which slows turning drivers. Of course the optimal is if these ramps are contained within a curb extension, but even without that, they are a good practice.

diagram of NACTO perpendicular ramps — *NACTO perpendicular ramps*

The next diagram snows perpendicular ramps in the context of curb extensions, and illustrates the huge benefit of curb extensions, which is increased visibility between walkers and roadway users. The curb extension also removes the need to paint the curb red or place a sign, one of which is required now under AB 413 (Lee, 2023). Caltrans includes curb extensions in its Pedestrian Safety Countermeasures Toolbox.

diagram of curb extension creating visibility (source unknown) — *curb extension creating visibility (source unknown)*

The table below shows the plan for each corner along the corridor from 3rd Street to 24th Street, with details about ramps and curb extensions. The plan I have does not include any change from the west side of 19th Street to the east side of 21st Street. This section includes the crossing between 19th and 20th by light rail and railroad tracks. It is unknown why this is.

Cross-street	NW	NE	SW	SE	Notes
3rd S	None	None	Diagonal existing	Diagonal new	No crosswalks
3rd N	Diagonal new	Diagonal existing	None	None	No crosswalks
5th	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new
6th	Diagonal new	Perpendicular exist	None	Single	W crosswalk removed
Midblock					New, single with extensions
8th	Diagonal existing	Diagonal new	None	None	No crosswalks
Muir Way	None	None	Diagonal new	Diagonal new	No E crosswalk
9th	Diagonal new	Perpendicular exist	None	None	No crosswalks
10th	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new	Single, extension	Single, extension
Riverside	Diagonal new	Diagonal new	Diagonal new	Diagonal new, extension
13th	Perpendicular exist	Perpendicular new, extension	Single	Single
14th	Perpendicular new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension
15th	Perpendicular new	Diagonal new	Single	None	No E crosswalk
16th/Land Park	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new, extension	Diagonal new	Perpendicular new, extension	W crosswalk unknown
17th	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new, extension	Diagonal new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension	W crosswalk removed
18th	Perpendicular new, extension	Diagonal new	Perpendicular new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension
19th					Unknown
20th					Unknown
21st					Unknown
22nd	Perpendicular new	Perpendicular new, extension	None	Single, extension	W crosswalk removed
23rd	Perpendicular new, extension	Perpendicular new, extension	Single, extension	None	W crosswalk only
24th	No change	No change	No change	No change

table of Broadway Complete Streets corners and curb extensions

The Broadway Complete Streets project, to reallocate the street from 3rd Street to 24th Street, is underway. I have been walking this section recently, and I see several things that greatly concern me. To be honest, I was not paying much attention when this project went through public review, and attended only one meeting. I had not looked closely at the project documents. The page linked above confuses me. There are no final design documents, yet I have several documents more recent, including one that says final. Did the city unlink these newer documents? Lose them?

It appears from the work I see being done currently, that parking will be preserved along the entire length of the project. While this makes complete sense where there are small businesses, there are also several blocks where there are large buildings that provide off-street parking, or fast food chain restaurants that that have ample off-street parking. Parking can be a good thing, but not when it takes the place of wider sidewalks and sidewalk buffers.

One positive is that vertical curbs are being installed, replacing the rolled curbs that exist along much of the street at this time. But a negative is that apparently curb lines are not being moved as part of the project, meaning that under-width sidewalks and under-width sidewalk buffers will remain so. A diagram from the planning process shows eight foot sidewalks.

Here is an actual constructed section, north side between 18th and 19th Streets. The sidewalk is six feet, and a completely useless sidewalk buffer of about 18 inches is included. A sidewalk buffer this narrow cannot provide planting space, and does not provide any physical or visual separation from the street. The street width could have been reallocated to a wider sidewalk, and a sidewalk buffer wide enough to host trees, but it was not.

photo of Broadway narrow sidewalk and narrow buffer new construction — Broadway narrow sidewalk and narrow buffer new construction

Getting Around Sacramento

by foot, bicycle, and public transit (car-free!)

Tag: diagonal ramps

Broadway diagonal ramps

serious concerns about Broadway