PLAINFIELD — Town officials here have completed their Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition plan for the pedestrian walkways. The document now becomes Plainfield’s guidelines for improving sidewalks, ramps, crosswalks, trails, and other pedestrian access sites.
Brock Ridgeway of Eagle Ridge Civil Engineering recently presented the completed document to the Plainfield Town Council.
“We finished up with the plan five months ahead of schedule,” Ridgeway said. “The ADA Transition plan is data driven. It’s a map and lists of the entire trail and sidewalk system.”
He said they studied the system to see what needed to be done to make all of the walkways accessible to all people.
“Now this is different from the town’s master plan,” Ridgeway said. “We timed all the crossings and looked at all the ramps. People must be able to push buttons. There are a lot of requirements made by the ADA.”
The study prioritized the areas where the need was greatest and came up with a schedule in which upgrades should occur.
“There are lots of funding sources out there to help with these projects,” Ridgeway said. “But the last I checked the examples in Central Indiana, Plainfield was ahead of schedule.”
He said the town’s master plan has helped them to be in better shape than some communities. Both the ADA Transition plan and the town’s master plan are documents that will be used side-by-side when planning upcoming projects.
The council appointed Rich Carlucci as the official ADA coordinator. The role of the ADA coordinator includes:
n Providing the public with a single point of contact for their questions and concerns relating to ADA issues;
n Ensuring that the proper procedures and tools are in place for town staff to collect ADA-related questions, comments, and grievances, whether filed by phone, in-person, mail, or by e-mail; and to serve as the initial recorder and reviewer of all grievances submitted by any source;
n Being responsible for the timely and consistent processing, investigation, and response to ADA-related questions, comments, and grievances; and
n Reviewing the town’s progress in achieving its ADA compliance goals, and to be an advocate for ongoing efforts and for the budgeting of resources to achieve the goals as identified in the ADA Transition Plan.
Robin Brandgard, president of the Plainfield Town Council, thanked Ridgeway and town staff members for all of their hard work on the plan.
“We don’t want this plan to gather dust,” Brandgard said. “This will be a helpful guideline.”
Town Engineer Tim Belcher added, “We’re already working on this before the ink is even dry. We’re already updating.”
There is a portion of the town’s website dedicated to the ADA transitional plan. On the website, residents can make grievances and comments. They can also send correspondence to Carlucci at the town hall at 206 W. Main St., Plainfield, IN 46168.
The town hall is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information, call Carlucci at 839-2561 ext. 214 or e-mail him at rcarlucci@town.plainfield.in.us.
brenda.holmes@flyergroup.com
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