Type of Project: Funded project Scientific Work
Barrier-free crossing points on main roads - design of curb drops and floor indicators in detail

Problem definition: The German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) is funding a project on the topic of "Barrier-free crossing points on main roads - detailed design of curb drops and floor indicators" as part of the urban transport research program. The project is being carried out by the Studiengesellschaft für unterirdische Verkehrsanlagen e.V. Köln (STUVA) in cooperation with the Institut Verkehr und Raum of the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt and the Ingenieurbüro für Systemberatung und Planung GmbH Dresden (ISUP). The technical support is provided by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt). In addition, representatives of the interests of people with disabilities are directly involved in the work through a parallel accompanying project of the Federal Competence Center for Accessibility (BKB). The barrier-free design of crossing points plays a decisive role in the accessibility and usability of road spaces to ensure barrier-free path chains. Due to the increasing proportion of elderly people and the accompanying increase in the number of users of rollable walking aids (rollators), the group of people who may have difficulty crossing the 3 cm edges that often result from a compromise between walking and visually impaired people is growing. In addition, blind and visually impaired people express safety concerns to the effect that a height of only 3 cm is at the lower limit of perceptibility with a long cane; especially since the required minimum dimension is often still undershot in practice due to installation tolerances and dirt accumulation in the channel. The described conflict of objectives exists in detail in the design of the 3 cm curb. Users of a long cane prefer an edge that is as broken as possible, as this is easier to feel. People with wheelchairs or walkers, on the other hand, can more easily negotiate rounded edges. However, empirical data on the optimal rounding and slope of the 3 cm curb to ensure both rollability and palpability as much as possible have not yet been collected. Aim of the study: The aim of the project is to provide, with the participation of representatives of people with disabilities, largely standardized design instructions and recommendations for use for the design (kerb and floor indicators) of crossing points on main roads, taking particular account of the requirements of visually impaired and walking-impaired people. The aim is also not to limit the effectiveness of existing systems, but to expand the group of people who have a benefit from such systems; in doing so, limiting effects for e.g. people with walking disabilities are to be avoided. The recommendations derived from the study will be prepared for an update of the regulations. The implementation of accessibility and standardization is an important building block for an inclusive, sustainable and thus sustainable road design, taking into account aspects of equal participation and the limited financial resources of road authorities.