Crossing Solutions at Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes for Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities: A Guidebook (2017)

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N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP RESEARCH REPORT 834 Crossing Solutions at Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes for Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities A Guidebook Bastian Schroeder Lee Rodegerdts Pete Jenior Edward Myers Kittelson and associates, inc. Portland, OR Christopher Cunningham Katy Salamati Sarah Searcy Sarah O’Brien institute for transportation research and education north carolina state university Raleigh, NC Janet Barlow Billie Louise (Beezy) Bentzen accessible design for the blind Asheville, NC Subscriber Categories Design  •  Highways  •  Operations and Traffic Management  Pedestrians and Bicyclists  •  Safety and Human Factors  •  Society Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration 2016

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research is the most effective way to solve many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation results in increasingly complex problems of wide inter- est to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. Recognizing this need, the leadership of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in 1962 ini- tiated an objective national highway research program using modern scientific techniques—the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). 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C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP RESEARCH REPORT 834 Christopher J. Hedges, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Stephan A. Parker, Senior Program Officer Megan Chamberlain, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Sreyashi Roy, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 03-78B PANEL Field of Traffic—Area of Operations and Control Howard M. McCulloch, New York State DOT, Albany, NY (Chair) Dennis Cannon, Synergy, LLC, Washington, DC Julie Carroll, National Council on Disability, Washington, DC James H. Dunlop, North Carolina DOT, Garner, NC Lukas Franck, The Seeing Eye, Inc., Morristown, NJ Gary Piotrowicz, Oakland County (MI) Roads Commission, Beverly Hills, MI Eugene R. Russell, Sr., Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS Jeffrey Shaw, FHWA Liaison Philip J. Caruso, Institute of Transportation Engineers Liaison Donna Smith, Easter Seals Project ACTION Liaison Scott J. Windley, U.S. Access Board Liaison Richard A. Cunard, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions made by Nagui Rouphail and Jeff Chang of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University and Richard Long and David Guth of the Accessible Design for the Blind.

F O R E W O R D By Stephan A. Parker Staff Officer Transportation Research Board NCHRP Research Report 834 presents guidance for the application of crossing solutions at roundabouts and channelized turn lanes (CTLs) at signalized intersections for pedestrians with vision disabilities, including individuals with total blindness. The guidebook provides an accessibility assessment framework and a methodology for evaluating treatment alterna- tives for a proposed crossing, as well as wayfinding accommodations. Guidance is provided based on the feasible range of geometric and traffic operational conditions under which similar treatments have been demonstrated to enhance accessibility. The guidebook and final report are targeted to an audience of practicing professionals who in some cases may have little or no background in design for accessibility. The guidelines are therefore written in a way that is consistent with other engineering guidebooks, and they are consistent with existing guidance on accessible design of pedestrian facilities and public rights of way. The audience for these products extends well beyond the engineer tasked with designing a particular site, including planners and decision makers at the municipal and state government levels; FHWA; and the U.S. Access Board, which is tasked with writing technical specifications for implementing the American with Disabilities Act, and which has published proposed guidelines in the form of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Acces- sible Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way. This project also has a broad public interest component, including professionals and researchers in the field of orientation and mobility, as well as private citizens with and without vision impairments. Accessibility of modern roundabouts and channelized turn lanes to pedestrians with vision disabilities has been a focus of recent and ongoing research. Initial research results document- ing the crossing challenges for pedestrians with vision disabilities at these facility types moti- vated the original NCHRP Project 03-78A research effort (published as NCHRP Report 674) and had an influence on language in the Proposed Accessibility Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way (draft PROWAG) published by the U.S. Access Board in 2011. With the impending publication of the final PROWAG and its expected adoption by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Transportation, municipalities and state DOTs need more specific guidance on what may constitute equivalent facilitation to pedestrians with vision disabilities at these facility types. Under NCHRP Project 03-78B, the research team led by the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University (NCSU) was tasked with exploring crossing solutions for single-lane and multi-lane crossings at roundabouts and channelized turn lanes. The research was based on the premise that other treatments exist besides an APS-equipped signal that can establish access to these facilities to pedestrians who are blind, while reducing installation cost and impact to vehicular traffic.

C O N T E N T S 1 Chapter 1  Introduction 1 1.1 Purpose and Scope 2 1.2 Accessibility Versus Safety 2 1.3 Minimum Specifications and Equivalent Facilitation 3 1.4 Four Components of the Crossing Task 5 1.5 Outline of the Document 6 Chapter 2  Design Process 6 2.1 Roundabouts 8 2.2 Channelized Turn Lanes 10 Chapter 3   General Principles for Pedestrian Wayfinding  and Crossing Tasks 10 3.1 Wayfinding Tasks 18 3.2 Crossing Tasks 21 Chapter 4   Design Principles for Pedestrian Access  at Roundabouts 21 4.1 Geometric Design 39 4.2 Traffic Control Device Applications 48 Chapter 5   Design Principles for Pedestrian Access  at Channelized Turn Lanes 49 5.1 Geometric Design 58 5.2 Traffic Control Device Applications 68 Chapter 6  Wayfinding Assessment 68 6.1 Determining the Appropriate Crossing Location 71 6.2 Aligning to Cross and Establishing the Correct Heading 74 6.3 Maintaining the Correct Heading While Crossing 75 6.4 Crossing from Channelization and Splitter Islands 78 Chapter 7  Crossing Assessment 78 7.1 Assessment of Pedestrians Crossing at Roundabouts and Channelized Turn Lanes 81 7.2 Methodology 81 7.3 Methodological Steps

98 References 101 Appendix A   Discussion of Audible Environment  and Noise Effects 104 Appendix B  Summary of Crossing Treatments Note: Photographs, figures, and tables in this report may have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.