UDOT has a 10-year plan to make walks accessible

Mark Johnson has lost muscle strength and coordination from multiple sclerosis, so he uses a scooter to get around his hometown of St. George.

Although the city has generally done a good job making sidewalks and streets accessible for the disabled and others with mobility issues, he sometimes runs into trouble.

"There will be a curb cut and I'll get off the sidewalk to cross the street, get to the other end, and there's not a curb cut on that end, so I have to carefully turn around and go back where I started," said Johnson, an independent-living specialist with the Red Rock Center for Independence.

Outside of Salt Lake City — even in municipalities the size of St. George or Bountiful — disabled-rights activists say it's still hard for people to get around, because of limited funding for fixes.

But the Utah Department of Transportation now has a 10-year plan to install 8,000 curb cuts along its older state routes, thanks to a settlement agreement with a Layton man that received preliminary approval by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson last week. The settlement will include major city streets like St. George Boulevard and Richfield's Main Street, which are operated by the state.

Secondary streets, which are operated by cities, aren't included in the agreement.

The settlement is scheduled for a final hearing on Oct. 29. The dispute all began in 2001, when Ronald Decker sued UDOT to get the agency to install curb cuts on the road by his house. Last year, the Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. approved the settlement, which calls for the state to spend about $1 million a year over the next 10 years to install the curb cuts.

Kerry Chlarson, managing attorney for the Disability Law Center, which represented Decker, said the settlement is likely to improve access in rural cities and be an educational tool to push cities to improve and upgrade street access.

"We're hoping that improving state roads will be an important step for access in smaller cities," Chlarson said.

Tracy Conti, UDOT director of operations, said the settlement is "the right thing to do."

The settlement says that anytime UDOT does routine maintenance work on a road, like a chip seal, or light re-coating of the road's surface, the department must install curb cuts. UDOT had previously only installed curb cuts during more substantial projects like repaving.

Cities follow that rule, but Benson ruled that because UDOT receives federal funding, the department has to observe more stringent rules.