{"id":186319,"date":"2026-03-10T22:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186319\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:05:08","slug":"orlando-continues-work-on-fixing-sidewalks-adding-ada-compliant-intersections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186319\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando continues work on fixing sidewalks, adding ADA compliant intersections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Residents in many downtown Orlando neighborhoods have noticed a mass effort to fix and upgrade sidewalks. In 2021, the city of Orlando created the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlando.gov\/Building-Development\/City-Projects\/2021-ADA-Transition-Plan-Update\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ADA Transition Plan Update<\/a>, a program to repair sidewalks and bring them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.\n<\/p>\n<p>But the improved sidewalks aren\u2019t just for folks with disabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[They] help create a great quality of life,\u201d explained Dr. Ashley Papagni, Orlando\u2019s public information officer. \u201cSidewalks help improve walkability for families with strollers, seniors and others. When people are walking, they\u2019re healthier.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>To proceed efficiently, the city has been doing the work neighborhood by neighborhood, first removing the damaged sidewalk portions and then pouring new concrete.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we have a stormwater project, we also handle the ADA issues at the same time, such as the Summerlin Avenue project,\u201d said Howard Elkin, division manager for the Streets and Stormwater Division. Elkin has been with the city for 15 years and has seen the technology change.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were one of the\u00a0first cities to use new machines that will shave off [sidewalk] lips that stick up, to eliminate tripping hazards,\u201d Elkin said. A contracting company was hired, and it took about four years to get through the entire city. Now it goes much more quickly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrinding down the old sidewalk sections was more cost-effective,\u201d Papagni said.\n<\/p>\n<p>The new wheelchair accessible ramps also include \u201ctruncated domes\u201d \u2014 the bumpy surface that alerts vision-impaired folks of a crosswalk. Older ones were screwed in; now they\u2019re poured into the concrete, so they won\u2019t come loose.\n<\/p>\n<p>Residents can also visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlando.gov\/Parking-Transportation\/Report-a-Transportation-Issue\/Request-a-New-Sidewalk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orlando.gov<\/a> to \u201crequest a new sidewalk.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConstructability \u2014 trees and landscaping \u2014 can be challenging,\u201d Elkin said. \u201cOur goal is to have at least a sidewalk on one side of each street.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Finished neighborhoods include Colonialtown South, Lawsona\/Fern Creek and Lake Como. Baldwin Park is up next.\n<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47797\" class=\"wp-image-47797 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260215_145038-1024x613.jpg\" alt=\"a sidewalk that slopes to the street\" width=\"1024\" height=\"613\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-47797\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Orlando neighborhoods have seen sidewalk repairs and the installation of ADA-compliant crosswalks. (LOGAN LAMPHERE)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents in many downtown Orlando neighborhoods have noticed a mass effort to fix and upgrade sidewalks. In 2021,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-186319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}