Referenced Standards.
Dave Reinhard, P.E., October 28, 2002
Several staff from the City of Eugene Public Works Department have reviewed the draft Guidelines. In the interest of time (yours and our own) I would like to go on record as supporting the testimony submitted earlier by AASHTO and by Bruce Friedman on behalf of the NCUTCD Signals Technical Committee. We have the same types of concerns as those expressed by these two commenters, primarily in the areas of cost and feasibility of a number of the proposals, particularly if the standards are adopted as rigid requirements rather than Best Management Practices. We also have noted in our own experience that a number of individuals and sub-groups within the larger communities of disabled persons are not necessarily unanimous in supporting all of the measures, such as accessible signals and the design details for ramps. This does not mean the standards can't move forward, but we feel it does argue for caution when considering the adoption of such sweeping new standards. We would support the types of suggestions made by the two groups cited earlier, for collaboration and further study on many of the proposals prior to final adoption in the form of standards.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Dave Reinhard, P.E.
City of Eugene, Transportation Division Manager