#ADAFact

The accessible route for people with disabilities must be located so it coincides with the route that everyone else will be taking.

This is the basic tenet of the ADA is for equal access.  The scoping lets us know:

In other words, if a route is through the front door, and the front door is not accessible, we are not allowed to make someone in a wheelchair go to the back door to enter the building.

This photo shows two entrances: one up some stair (not accessible) and one on the ground (accessible) and both are located in the same location.  This is a good solution to the location of the accessible route coinciding with the general route.

 

The second part of the statement tells us that if the general route is on the interior, the accessible route must also be on the interior.  This means that if we have a two-story space with an interior stair, the accessible route should also be on the interior of the space.    The ADA has a requirement when providing a new stair in a space:

This means that if you have two levels that were not connected together at the time of new construction, but they will be connecting by adding a stair as part of an alteration, then an accessible route connecting the two floors (and located in the same area) will have to be provided.

this is a two-story store with an interior stair. An elevator would be required inside the store as well

So If there is an office building with a tenant that would like to lease two floors and connect them with an internal stair, they would be required to also provide an elevator or a ramp connecting the stories.  If the building already had an elevator in the core, this would not be able to be used since the elevator is outside the tenant space.  The new elevator would have to be located within the tenant space.

this office building has an internal ramp that connects two stories

The exception mentioned in the last sentence of the standard describes some buildings that are not required to connect the floors together even if there is a new stair provided.  Read my past newsletter about the elevator exception here

The Texas Department of Licensing and regulation issued a technical memo that explains their position on this issue.