Ringgold exploring handicap upgrades at downtown intersection
Officials in Ringgold are discussing making handicap upgrades downtown at the intersection of Tennessee Street and Nashville Street.
During the most recent City Council meeting on Feb. 24, Mayor Pro Tem Sara Clark said a business owner recently went to her with concerns about some of the issues that currently exist with the handicap spots downtown.
“I did have a citizen come to me, one of the downtown business owners, and she was very concerned about the handicap accessibility in Ringgold in some places,” Clark said.
Clark explained that most handicap ramps are on the driver’s side of vehicles, but that most handicap people exit the vehicles from the passenger side, which makes it hard for the person in need of the ramp to access it.
“We’re looking at this to make handicap parking make sense for most of the people who have to get out on the passenger side and get enough room – that’s another thing – you might meet the legal definition because you have a handicap spot, but you don’t have enough room to get out if there is a car next to you.”
The city recently completed a streetscape project around the Catoosa County Courthouse further down on Nashville Street, which is one of the many downtown upgrades the city has made over the last few years.
Clark says the handicap upgrades are just as important as the other connectivity upgrades that have been made.
“With all the work that we’ve had done downtown we felt like this was a time that we needed to address a solution,” Clark said.
Philip Schofield with CTI Engineers told the board during the discussion that there’s opportunity to make the needed changes by potentially piggybacking the work onto the aforementioned courthouse streetscape project.
“This (handicap issue) is at the intersection of Tennessee Street and Nashville Street,”
Schofield said. “Right now, if you got out here, you’d have to walk all the way around and come up a ramp on Tennessee Street.”
Schofield explained that he was tasked with trying to figure out the best way to put a ramp, upgrade accessibility and not impact the entrance to the businesses there.
“It think we can add the striping there that will give you the Ada-required space between the spot on the passenger side, and then put the ramp in the bulb-out area,” Schofield said. “We would just kind of cut in the ramp. We’d have to basically create the stripped area required by ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and move the actual spot one spot over.”
From a financial standpoint, Schofield said the contract for the courthouse streetscape project is still open, meaning the handicap work could possibly be added to the contract.
“The contract with the contractor is still open. I would get this permitted with the Georgia Department of Transportation, and then get the pricing from the contractor,” Schofield said. “There’s a little bit of money left in the contract. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but we’ll try to see if it will fit or not. We’ll come back and present that cost proposal to you guys to see if you want to add it to the contract that’s still open.”
Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to allow CTI to move forward with submitting the permitting paperwork to with GDOT.
Mayor Nick Millwood said he things the project would be a great addition to the downtown streetscape.
“Obviously, it’s a much-needed improvement,” Millwood said. “This is certainly on the right track. It’s nice that we have that open contract with some money left in it that would apply to this project with perhaps the same unit pricing that they have in that.”
Adam Cook is a general assignment reporter and covers the Walker-catoosa County area. He has been a reporter since 2009.