Transportation enhancements save lives

Truncated domes are an enhancement that provide individuals living with sight disabilities a cue to stop at intersections and wait until it safe to cross. 

By Mallory Goeke, KDOT Communications Specialist 

June is Pedestrian Safety Month. At some point throughout our day, we are all pedestrians. To get from one destination to the other, we navigate sidewalks and cross the streets safely.  

As a person who lives with the ability to see, I never realized how challenging it could be for someone who lives with a visual impairment to travel if life-saving equipment isn’t in place to help. It took an experience to help me learn about enhancements that help people living with disabilities travel. 

I was leaving a local store recently when one of the cashiers noticed that an individual who lives with a visual impairment and walks by the location every day was headed in a different direction after pacing for a few minutes. While they had chosen to use a long white cane to help them detect where they were, it appeared that they needed assistance.

I left the store and offered to help them. I learned that they were trying to find their regular bus stop but were unsure where they were. They told me that they usually relied on the sound from the intersection WALK indicators but said the sound was distorted because of high winds.

After we talked for a few minutes about their experience, we were able to cross the street and make it to the correct bus stop safely.

As I walked back to my vehicle, I couldn’t help but realize that this world looks and feels very different to people who are living with disabilities. I wanted to understand some of the transportation enhancements that help make travel better for others.

There are many ways that people who are living with a visual disability can detect where streets are located. They can feel the curb or the slope of a street. They can listen for the sound of traffic on the street beside them or the street they are approaching. But there are also some great enhancements that can be made to the infrastructure itself.

Truncated domes are an enhancement that provide individuals living with sight disabilities a cue to stop at intersections and wait until it safe to cross. 

One of these enhancements that is overlooked by people who can see are the bumps in the sidewalk just before an intersection called truncated domes. This enhancement was originally invented in Japan to be used in train terminals to help those living with visual impairment know when to stop.

Truncated domes can be found at many intersections and vary in design depending on where they are located and how they are used. Some truncated domes can indicate direction as well as help someone know when they need to stop at an intersection before crossing.  Truncated domes are usually put in place on either side of the intersection so the pedestrian can know when they have reached the other side safely.

Walk Indicators provide assistance to individuals living with both vision and hearing
impairments as they cross the street. Some indicators even make sounds or talk to pedestrians.

Another great enhancement is of course, the WALK indicator at intersections. In many communities, this indicator will either beep or talk to the pedestrian and indicates when it is safe to cross. 

This enhancement also assists persons living with hearing disabilities and helps provide visual cues.

All Kansas Department of Transportation projects follow the Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG). These guidelines cover the design specifications for pedestrian features in all new or altered public rights-of-way. This applies to all sidewalks, paths, street crossings, medians and traffic islands, overpasses, bridges, parking, transit, signage and even furniture that exist within a transportation project.

Even though these guidelines are only proposed, KDOT and the Federal Highway Association in Kansas support the guidelines and recognize that they are needed to serve all Kansans and those who visit.

You can learn more about PROWAG here.

We are just cracking the surface on what transportation enhancements are doing to help everyone travel safely. KDOT also makes sure that every project has an accessible route through the construction of projects. We will discuss that topic and more in future blogs.