For the average person, wheelchair access is not a readily thought-about topic, but for the thousands of Columbus residents in wheelchairs, ramps can be a problem, especially when they don’t meet the standards set by the law.

In order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Columbus is nearing completion on construction of thousands of wheelchair ramps as part of a 1997 lawsuit settlement.

The Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council is an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

The council filed a complaint claiming the city failed to comply with requirements for wheelchair ramps set forth in the ADA, which was passed by Congress into law in 1990.

Mary Webster, assistant director of Public Service, said the lawsuit was settled by the city, which required Columbus to fix incorrectly-installed ramps and build ramps where they were needed around the city by the end of the year in 2000.

“The administration at that time estimated the total number of ramps at 3,000 and estimated the cost considerably lower than they actually cost,” Webster said.

Because the city originally underestimated the number of ramps needed, Columbus renegotiated the lawsuit with OSILC to give the city until the end of 2002.

Phil Skidmore, an OSILC council member, said the group allowed the city to take a little more time to complete the project.

“We gave them an extension of a year’s time to go ahead and get it done and we’re just monitoring them from there on out and make sure they’re going to build what they said they’re going to do,” he said.

Webster said the city has made good progress on the ramps but still has many more to complete.

“We have built 6,000, and the remainder we have to do this year,” she said.

Webster said 1,000 ramps yet to be completed are downtown, with the rest scattered throughout the city.

Skidmore said OSILC is also happy with the city’s progress.

“I think Columbus is doing a good job, and I believe they’re going to get everything done that is satisfactory to what we wanted when we filed the lawsuit,” he said.

“There’s still probably more work to be done that we’re not aware of, but it’s a big step,” he added.

Although not involved in the same lawsuit, Upper Arlington is also working on bringing their wheelchair ramps up to compliance with the ADA requirements.

Douglas Green, city engineer for Upper Arlington, said when the city repaved roads in the 1990s, they didn’t think the ADA standards applied to the city.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act stated that whenever a street is ‘altered,’ compliant ramps must be installed where there are none and non-compliant ramps must be brought into compliance,” he said. “Upper Arlington considered repaving to be a maintenance treatment for streets, not an ‘alteration,’ therefore, ramps were not constructed as part of the repaving program.”

A ruling from the Third Circuit Federal Court in Philadelphia stated that repaving was an alteration.

The lawsuit named Upper Arlington as not having complied with this court ruling, Green said.

“The lawsuit made city officials aware of the “alteration vs. maintenance” ruling and resulted in the city entering into a settlement agreement to construct ramps on all streets paved since 1992,” he said.

Repaving a ramp can be trickier than it sounds, because of potential obstacles being in the way and the differences in streets, Webster said.

“There are a variety of things which can alter the repaving,” she said. “It’s not a cookie cutter which we can stamp out ramps with. They are all different.”

Scott Lissner, ADA coordinator at Ohio State, said it’s hard to tell whether an area is in compliance because of the large size of most cities.

He added the campus area has fostered no complaints regarding wheelchair ramps, but there may be problems no one has brought to his attention.

“We have over 400 buildings, over 17 miles of sidewalk and over 600 curb ramps,” he said. “Given our size, the average age of a building is about 40 years, and Ohio’s weather, something is always under repair.”

Upper Arlington is trying to meet the guidelines of the ADA, Green said.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act – otherwise known as the law – requires the city’s public rights-of-way be accessible to persons of disabilities,” he said. “It is the city’s objective to comply with the law.”