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Busway Access |
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July 9,
1999 Dear Complaint Analyst; This letter represents a formal complaint under the provisions of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 on behalf of the Florida Paraplegic Association, Inc. and the individual undersigned Officers of the Florida Paraplegic Association, Inc. The decision to file this complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice was made by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors of the Association. The subject of this complaint is Miami Dade County, a political subdivision of the state of Florida, and the Florida Department of Transportation, an agency of the executive branch of the state of Florida. Both of these entities are required to comply with the provisions of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Florida Paraplegic Association, Inc. has been active in assisting people with disabilities for more than 40 years. Since the effective date of the ADA our Association has sought compliance with the provisions of both Title II and Title III though community activism, work with the local media, and, when necessary, litigation. This is the first time that we have encountered an issue of such significant importance to this community, and communities all over the country, as to seek the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice. This complaint focuses on the Bus Way constructed in southern Miami Dade County by the Florida Department of Transportation and Miami Dade County. This Bus Was has been constructed with millions of dollars of taxpayer funds including local, state, and federal funds. The operation of this Bus Way has significantly decreased access to public transportation for people with disabilities from the degree of access which existed prior to the opening of the newly constructed roads and facilities that comprise this Bus Way. The first phase of Miami Dade Bus Way was opened with great fanfare. Present at the opening were numerous government officials. This Bus Way was presented as a major advance for the community, a significant improvement in mass transit for the public. It has been held out as a prototype for use in communities across the United States. Numerous transportation planners and officials have visited Miami Dade County to see this new Bus Way so as to develop similar systems for their communities. This Bus Way, and others built like it, results in public transportation being even less accessible to people with disabilities, increases the dependence by people with disabilities on paratransit services, and will result in the long term failure of any efforts to provide integrated and equal access to public transportation services for people with disabilities. This is truly a problem of such magnitude as to deserve the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Bus Way has been constructed as a two lane road that runs parallel to U.S. Route 1 in the southern area of Miami Dade County. The Bus Way has been constructed on the west side of U.S. 1 with a wide grass area separating the Bus Way from U.S. 1. This two lane road is only open to bus and emergency vehicle traffic. The goal of the Bus Way is to provide faster and on schedule transportation services by removing buses from the traffic congestion of U.S. 1 and providing a traffic free roadway for bus and emergency vehicle traffic. The goal of the project is commendable but the execution of the project has resulted in severe and undue burdens being placed on people with disabilities and discrimination against people with disabilities. The designers of the Bus Way made a decision to place all bus stops along the Bus Way at a significant distance from cross streets that intersect the Bus Way. The bus stops that are nearest to the cross streets are still several hundred feet from cross streets while some bus stops are more than one forth of a mile from a cross street. The explanation given to us for placing the bus stops so far from cross streets was so bus drivers would be able to remotely change traffic lights at upcoming intersections when leaving a bus stop and have a green light when reaching the intersection. Attempts to use this remote traffic signal system initially resulted in several vehicular accidents so that this system is not being used. It is our belief that a remote traffic signal system does not require that the bus stops be located at a significant distance from intersections. Training of bus drivers in the use of this system would allow the remote control to be activated while a bus is loading or unloading rather than at the time the bus leaves the bus stop. During the design and construction of the Bus Way the Miami Dade County Office of ADA Coordination raised objections to the Florida Department of Transportation concerning the location of one or more bus stops. The objections were due to the distance that a person with a disability would be required to travel from an intersection to a bus stop. The Florida Department of Transportation was unresponsive to the objections of the County Office of ADA Coordination and to the objections of members of the community of people with disabilities. Two options were available to the Florida Department of Transportation, either of which would have resulted in this Bus Way being accessible to people with disabilities. In order for the scope of the access problem to be clear it must be understood that an extremely large residential and commercial community exists, along the entire length of the Bus Way, on the east side of U.S. 1. As stated above, the Bus Way has been connected on the west side of U.S. 1. Had the Bus Way been constructed with bus stops adjacent to cross streets along the length of the Bus Way then people with disabilities, along with the general public, would have been able to cross U.S. 1, using existing traffic lights and crosswalks, and easily reached the bus stops. Such a design would have provided reasonable access for all people. By building the bus stops at a significant distance from cross streets a person with a disability must cross U.S. 1 at a cross street and then travel along a paved path parallel to the Bus Way until reaching a bus stop. There is no shelter from the hot sun nor from the sub tropical rains as a person travels from a cross street to a bus stop. The bus stops themselves are all roofed so as to provide shelter from sun and rain. At most intersections the crosswalks designed by the Florida Department of Transportation require that a person with a disability not only cross U.S. 1 but also cross the intersecting street or highway one or two times and, in many cases, cross the Bus Way one or two times. Crosswalks have only been established on one side of each intersection. A person wanting to take a south bound bus who was coming from the north side of a cross street would have to cross the intersecting street to the south east corner, cross U.S. 1 using the crosswalk between the southeast corner and the south west corner, travel the distance of the grass separator between U.S. 1 and the Bus Way (on a paved sidewalk), cross the Bus Way to the west side of the Bus Way using a crosswalk that connects the southeast corner at the Bus Way to the southwest corner at the Bus Way. At that corner there is then a crosswalk that allows a person to cross the intersecting street or highway back to the north side of that street or highway so that the person can travel the distance to the bus stop for a south bound bus. If the person was going to take a north bound bus then the person would, after reaching the northwest corner at the Bus Way, have to cross the Bus Way a second time, from west to east, to then travel the distance to the bus stop. There are no crosswalks connecting the south east corners along the Bus Way with north east corners at any cross streets or intersections. This circuitous path of travel, designed by the staff of the Florida Department of Transportation, simply increases the burden placed on people with disabilities in addition to the burden of the long distance from intersections to bus stops. Observation of the use of these bus stops has demonstrated that the general public does not follow this circuitous path of travel. A person crossing U.S. 1 at an intersection, for the purpose of reaching a bus stop, will cross on the side of the intersection that is most convenient ignoring the painted crosswalks. It is only a person who is dependent on curb ramps that is required to use the painted crosswalks as the only curb ramps constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation are at designated crosswalks. Had the Florida Department of Transportation and Miami Dade County provided bus stops adjacent to cross streets and crosswalks on the north and south sides of cross streets as well as on the east and west sides of the Bus Way there would be no failure to provide equal access to people with disabilities. The other manner in which equal access for people with disabilities could be provided, and the solution suggested by the Miami Dade County Office of ADA Coordination, is to provide east west crosswalks across U.S. 1 at the locations where bus stops have been provided. Through observation of bus stop usage since the Bus Way has opened it is clear that most bus riders do not walk the extra distance to intersections when seeking a place to cross U.S. 1. Unless a person has to go past an intersection when walking to a bus stop, most people simply cross U.S. 1 at the location of the bus stop. This ³J walking² path of travel for the general public has been created by the failure of the Florida Department of Transportation and Miami Dade County to construct crosswalks at the location of the bus stops. Once a person crosses U.S. 1 at the location of a bus stop the person must then cross a wide sloping grass area in order to reach the bus stop. A person who wants to take a bus travel south simply crosses the Bus Way at the location of the bus stop. This is the path of travel used by most people seeking to use The County bus system. The fact that the design staff of the Florida Department of Transportation have decided that the majority of the bus riding public can ³J walk² across U.S.1 is not an issue in this complaint no matter how unwise such a decision may be. However, the failure to provide curb ramps on U.S. 1 at the locations of bus stops, and a paved path of travel across the grass separator at the locations of bus stops, prevents people with disabilities from using the path of travel used by the general public. The Florida Department of Transportation and Miami Dade County have failed to provide the shortest accessible route that is technically feasible for people with disabilities desiring to use the public transportation system provided by Miami Dade County. By constructing the only accessible path of travel through crosswalks across U.S. 1 at the location of cross streets, rather than at the location of bus stops, the government entities have, by their own design and construction, placed an unreasonable burden on people with disabilities. Conversations with staff of the Miami Dade Office of ADA Coordination have provided us with totally unsatisfactory explanations of the reason for the inaccessibility of this new transportation corridor. We have been told that the Florida Department of Transportation did not want the public crossing U.S. 1 at any location other than at intersections of cross streets. However, the only people prevented from crossing U.S. 1 at the locations of bus stops are people with disabilities. No attempt was made by the Florida Department of Transportation to construct any barrier at the medians on U.S. 1 that would prevent the general public from crossing U.S. 1 at the locations of the bus stops. It was stated that the Florida Department of Transportation did not want to install crosswalks with traffic control devices at the location of bus stops as such traffic lights would impede traffic on U.S.1. That statement makes little sense in the context of a multi million dollar Bus Way constructed to increase the use of mass transit over the use of individual vehicles. The existence of the Bus Way already has the side effect of improving traffic flow along U.S. 1 by the removal of bus traffic from this highway. The installation of traffic control devices and crosswalks at the location of bus stops, with the traffic lights timed with the traffic lights at intersections of U.S. 1 and cross streets, would have minimal impact on the flow of traffic along U.S.1. A decision to sacrifice the accessibility to people with disabilities of a public transportation system for the pro ported traffic flow of passenger vehicles is seen by us as an uncaring, cynical, and discriminatory attitude towards residents of this community with disabilities. Prior to the construction of the Bus Way bus traffic was along U.S.1. All bus stops were adjacent to intersections on U.S. 1. There was no greater path of travel required of people with disabilities in attempting to reach bus stops than that required by the general public. The language in Title III of the ADA is clear in prohibiting any alterations to existing facilities that would result in a decrease in accessibility for people with disabilities. We do not believe that the requirements of Title II are any less stringent. We do not believe that it was the intent of Congress nor the intent of the U.S. Department of Justice that a state and local government can alter a major county transportation system with the end result of such alteration being a decrease in accessibility to that transportation system for people with disabilities. At this time phase two of this Bus Way is scheduled for construction. The same design is being used by the Florida Department of Transportation and Miami Dade County. If these government entities are allowed to continue with the discrimination inherent in the design of this Bus Way then, regardless of lift equipped buses, the Miami Dade County Transportation system will be unusable by people with disabilities. We believe that now is the time for the U.S. Department of Justice to take an active and aggressive role in addressing the design and construction of these new public transportation corridors before numerous urban areas follow the lead of Miami Dade County and develop transportation corridors that exclude people with disabilities from public transportation services. The undersigned officers of the Florida Paraplegic Association, Inc. look forward to your response to this complaint and will each be happy to provide the required Privacy Act Release upon your request. Sincerely yours, Mildred Levenson - President Denny Woods - Secretary Frederick Shotz - Treasurer |
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