Our Levy to Move Seattle commitment: Make curb ramp and crossing improvements at up to 750 intersections citywide, creating accessible routes for those with disabilities and for the elderly. 

Our ADA Program is responsible for planning and implementing improvements that help people of all abilities have the same access to Seattle’s pedestrian infrastructure. Our infrastructure includes elements like sidewalks, parking, transit access, and more. With that in mind, features such as curb ramps, detectable warnings and street crossings are important components of an accessible pedestrian network. 

The Levy funds curb ramps that we install from the list of customer service requests. From that list, we install 150 to 200 curb ramps annually. This is in addition to the hundreds of other curb ramps that are constructed through other projects. For example, we have constructed 978 curb ramps total this year, and we constructed 436 curb ramps as part of the Green Lake and Wallingford multimodal improvements project we completed last summer. 

As part of the Curb Ramps and Crossings program, we also construct curb ramps from our ADA Transition Plan. This plan helps us identify and prioritize ongoing accessibility improvements.  

From the beginning of the Levy (2016) to the end of June 2022, we have built over 1,300 new curb ramps funded by this program alone. We have also improved over 446 intersections as part of this program and our New Sidewalks and Crossing Improvements Program. We are on track to meet our Levy goals. 

Below are some recent examples of new curb ramps we’ve built!  

In 2016, we created the Seattle Accessible Route Planner, an online map and planning tool to help people navigate the city. The map shows sidewalks, curb ramps, accessible pedestrian signals, approximate street slopes, locations of crosswalks, and construction zones or temporary closures to help people plan routes based on their needs.