How wheelchair accessible is Austin? (San Antonio, Round Rock: apartment, credit, house)

[Jhutter33]

All and any help would be very much appreciated. I am lookingtorelocate from Boston, MA which is extremely inaccessible. Is Austin more or less accessible than San Antonio?

[supernaut112]

It really depends on the area of Austin you're talking about. Downtown is extremely wheelchair accessible, as are the 'burbs that flank it. These are very walkable to begin with, tailored to pedestrian traffic.

But I don't think that I'd say that the same could be said about all of Austin.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Jhutter33

All and any help would be very much appreciated. I am lookingtorelocate from Boston, MA which is extremely inaccessible. Is Austin more or less accessible than San Antonio?

In my opinion Austin is highly accessible, compared to what I have seen when I travel. I was hired by the City of Austin around 1983 as an architect, to make accessibility modifications to ALL of its government buildings in accordance with the federal 504 program. I coordinated with the 504 manager who was responsible for making sure that all of the City of Austin's programs were accessible. I met many of the people who are part of ADAPT in Austin during that time. They are very active and pretty agressive at making sure Austin met or exceeded the laws requirements.

Later when the ADA was implemented additional modifications were made to ALL city government buildings to meet those higher standards. The State of Texas had its own accessibility standards that they enforced prior to ADA but has since adopted the ADA standards and is agressive about making sure that all new and remodeled buildings meet the ADA requirements, with plan reviews and site inspections. I expect you know that many privately owned buildings are exempt from the standards unless they remodel, and then they have to provide an accessible route to and meet the standards in the areas remodeled.

The State of Texas requires licensed architects to take at least one hour of continuing education credit related to accessibility requirements every year.

In addition the City has had an ongoing program for years working on modifying all public sidewalks to provide curb ramps at every intersection. I believe you will find almost every intersection downtown and throughout most of the city has curb ramps facing both directions at every corner where there are sidewalks as well as at alley ways if there is a grade change. The City has also had a program underway which went through residential neighborhoods and repaired broken sidewalks to eliminate uneven areas and elevation changes that would be a barrier to someone using a wheel chair. They did this in my subdivision built in the mid-1980's, which is 10 miles from downtown Austin. There are a few of the oldest residential parts of town where the blocks have no sidewalks, or only one side of a street has a sidewalk. There may be some parts of town they have not gotten to yet, but they are working on it.

You can check out any part of town you are interested in using Google Maps Streetview to see for yourself.

I'm not as familiar with San Antonio but I used Streetview to check a few places. I took a cruise around Alamo square, a major tourist destination and took a drive down a few of the main streets. I found that most, but not all, intersections had curb ramps, several had curb ramps on only one side of the corner. i.e. if you were standing on the SE corner, there might be a ramp on the West side but not on the North side of that corner, even though there was a cross walk going both directions. Some locations might have a curb ramp at one end of a cross walk but none across the street.

Moving out of the downtown area most of the places I spot checked had streets with no curb ramps at all at the intersections.

I even found City parks that did not have curb ramps on each corner, or there would be a curb ramp on the park corner but none across the street from it. Lockwood Park, Dignowity park and Lincoln Park. The first two are close enough to downtown San Antonio that you can see the Tower of the Americas from there. The driveway entrance to the Claude Black Community Center in Lincoln Park has a curb ramp on one side next to the bus stop, with a 1"-2" ridge at the bottom and no curb ramp on the other side of the driveway. And no accessible path from the bus stop to the Community Center.

I picked those locations at random, but they do not bode well for what they say about San Antonio in terms of accessibility.

[Jhutter33]

Thank you CaptRn your response was very informative. I also agree with you SuperNaut112, not all of any city will be completely accessible.

[supernaut112]

Originally Posted by Jhutter33

Thank you CaptRn your response was very informative. I also agree with you SuperNaut112, not all of any city will be completely accessible.

There's the issue of transportation via motor vehicle ... and then there's the issue of transportation if the wheelchair-bound individual is somewhat independent and needs to get around his or her neighborhood. These are two different things entirely. My neighbor is visually impaired, and he gets to and from work via special city transit just fine. And because we have a walkable neighborhood, he can easily walk to the market, pharmacy, etc.

My S.O. lives off of 620, a very busy thoroughfare that's more like a mini-highway. There are no sidewalks that run parallel to this street. I cannot see someone with mobility problems being able to get around in this area without motor vehicle transportation. In other words, it wouldn't be enough to have wheelchair ramps around a house or apartment building. There's simply no way to safely cross major roads.

[MaryleeII]

Do be aware that much of Austin is "hilly", especially the downtown area. If you want a flat area, try a bit further north, Round Rock, Leander, etc.

An example, I was at a Randall's downtown, let go of my shopping cart in the parking lot, and it literally flew down the lot due to the slope.

Also, something I could never figure out---there's lots of curbcuts to nowhere. A curb cut from one side of the street to another, but no access to/from the curb cut. So, unless you want to ride back and forth all day, I don't see the point!

My opinion--Austin is workable for those with wheelchairs, just be sure to check out your individual area first, nothing is perfect, but you can make your way around there.

[Mom2NAC]

I agree with the others. As a former transportation engineer, I have personally inspected many pedestrian elements on our roads, mostly in north Austin. The intersections with pedestrian elements do an excellent job of meeting ADA standards. I also see the city bus system picking up individuals in wheelchairs all the time as well. They have a special contraption for lifting the chair. Although maybe you have a specially made vehicle that you can drive around town as well? Either way, Austin is a very outdoorsy city with a lot of sidewalks & ramps, even in the more suburban areas of Austin. You will do great here!

[G Grasshopper]

I don't disagree with the opinions above, but be aware that Texans have a disagreeable habit of parking on the sidewalks and blocking them for people who really need them. Even in residential neighborhoods, if a driveway already has cars in it, they will many times pull in behind and take up the sidewalk, rather than parking on the street. In the other states that I have lived in, I have not seen this as a common practice. I'm not saying that Austin is not accessible, just noting this one habit of Texans that you (and all of us) will have to deal with.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by supernaut112

There's the issue of transportation via motor vehicle ... and then there's the issue of transportation if the wheelchair-bound individual is somewhat independent and needs to get around his or her neighborhood. These are two different things entirely. My neighbor is visually impaired, and he gets to and from work via special city transit just fine. And because we have a walkable neighborhood, he can easily walk to the market, pharmacy, etc.

My S.O. lives off of 620, a very busy thoroughfare that's more like a mini-highway. There are no sidewalks that run parallel to this street. I cannot see someone with mobility problems being able to get around in this area without motor vehicle transportation. In other words, it wouldn't be enough to have wheelchair ramps around a house or apartment building. There's simply no way to safely cross major roads.

Relevant points, however Ranch Road 620 is not in Austin, it is partially in Lakeway West of Austin, but not in any single municiple jurisdiction. It is still pretty much just a heavily traveled highway that has had lots of businesses and subdivisions open up along its edges. You can say the same for most highways and ranch roads, there are rarely any sidewalks along the sides.

[achtungpv]

Go to the city's website and look up the Pedestrian Master Plan. I worked on this project as a consultant. We surveyed every sidewalk and ramp in the core of the city against ADA accessibility guidelines. The PDF of the results is on the city website. It should be from '08 or so.