ADA-Compliant Temporary Traffic Control Devices & Accessories
Plastic Safety Systems Creates Innovative Products for Pedestrians
Plastic Safety Systems added to our "Innovators" bona fides when we introduced our first ADA-Compliant Pedestrian Barricade, SafetyRail, in 2009. We burnished that reputation further with the introduction of our second ADA-Compliant Barricade, SafetyWall, in 2011.
In a few short years, PSS has become a recognized authority not only in ADA-Compliant devices, but in "Accessible Work Zones". (More on that topic a little further down.)
We started to build our knowledge base in 2004, when we attended the very first FHWA workshop for ADA-Compliant Traffic Control Devices for pedestrian work zones. At that workshop, and subsequent ones, traffic control device manufacturers displayed their products for review by pedestrians with limited vision or with mobility issues. The evaluators rated each device for safe guidance, by hand or walking cane; for continuous guidance; for any inherant tripping hazards.
As an example, the picture, below right, from the 2007 workshop, shows an evaluator tapping the

bottom guide rail of our Navigator Barricade.
Evaluators' scores and comments were compiled and published, so that manufacturers and the sponsoring agencies could better understand pedestrians' needs.
Over the next several years, FHWA incorporated standards for compliant pedestrian devices in the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Similarily, US Access Board developed "Public Right-of-Way Accessibilty Guidelines", or PROWAG, the latest draft of which you can see in the Federal Register
here..
For more information about FHWA ADA guidelines, we suggest you start
here or
here. Those responsible for pedestrian work zones should find FHWA Pedestrian Road Safety Audit information useful. Find it
here.
For US Access Board programs, visit their web site
here.
We Design the First True ADA-Compliant Barricade
At the 2004 workshop, confirmed at the 2007 workshop, we determined that no product in our line (or anyone else's line) would suffice. The needs of pedestrians with limited vision or mobility issues demanded new devices.
No design criteria for ADA devices, much less product standards, existed in 2004. Naturally, we as a manufacturer modified existing devices to meet the perceived needs of pedestrians. Witness the picture above, where we featured an off-the-shelf product, Navigator Barricade, at the workshops.
However, with PROWAG draft guidelines, and proposed MUTCD revisions, design criteria for ADA-Compliant devices soon emerged.
We determined that the design criteria is:
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devices provide continuous, safe guidance
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individual devices also interlock, with no gaps
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smooth upper surface for hand-trailing
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bottom guide rail for walking devices
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minimal gap at bottom to prevent trapping of canes
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no tripping hazards
We then launched design projects, and as a result, introduced
SafetyRail, as shown on the right, in 2009 and
SafetyWall in 2011.
Visit those pages, or follow the links below, for more information..
Our ADA-Compliant Barricades Meet or Exceed MUTCD Standards
Not too surprisingly, then, our ADA-Compliant Barricades.meet several MUTCD guidelines and standards. To read those guidelines yourself, visit MUTCD "Part 6, Temporary Traffic Control",
here.
Major MUTCD Guidelines are:
Section 6F.63, Lines 4 and 5, Standards:
"Devices used to channelize pedestrians
shall be detectable to users of long canes and visible to persons having low vision. Where channelizing are used to channelize pedestrians,
there shall be continuous detectable bottom and top surfaces to be detectable to users of long canes."
Section 6F.63, Line 7, Guidance:
"Where multiple channelizing devices are aligned to form a continuous pedestrian channelizer,
connection points should be smooth to optimize long-cane and hand trailing." Our SafetyWall, shown below, complies with 6F.63.
Section 6F.71, Longitudinal Channelizing Devices, Line 7, Standard:
"Longitudinal Channelizing Devices shall be interlocked to delineate or channelize flow.
The interlocking devices shall not have gaps that allow pedestrians to stray from the channelizing path."
SafetyRail and SafetyWall can be used as individual barricades, or as interlocking Longitudinal Channelizing Devices.
Section 6F.74, Detectable Edging for Pedestrians, Support:
The look of most pedestrian work zone, seen virtually everywhere, is of a loose array of Type I or II Barricades with yellow, construction tape strung or tied along them, forming a very ineffective and unsafe pedestrain access route.
Section 6F.74 states: "Individual channelizing devices, tape or rope used to connect individual devices, other discontinuous barriers and devices, and pavement markings are not detectable by persons with visual disabilities and are incapable of providing detectable path guidance on temporary or realigned sidewalks or other pedestrian facilities."
On "Building Accessible Work Zones"
As mentioned earlier, Plastic Safety Systems has become an authority on pedestrian work zones. As such, we have created a workshop in which we provide an overview of the major issues in pedestrian safety in work zones. In it, we discuss accessibility, detectability, and all of the other salient requirements for a pedestrian work zone that is truly safe for all pedestrians.
Our presentation, "Building Accessible Work Zones," features such topics as::
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ADA: the law and consequences
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what is and what is not ADA-Compliant
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detectable temporary traffic control devices
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other components of an accessible work zone
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municipal, state and federal plans and policies
We will gladly conduct our workshop, free of charge, for relevant organizations with 20 or more attendees. Simply contact Tim Cox, National Sales Manager, to make arrangements. Tim can be reached at 216-244-3207 or
tjcox@plasticsafety.com.