Dangerous Situation at Southside Intersection (UPDATED 3X!)
For a few years now the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (aka MSD) has been working on a major sewer project under Bates Street in South St. Louis. They seem to be nearing completion and while the area should have better drainage than before not everything is left better than it was.
Above you can see a metal grate over a sewer inlet, with one being tilted creating a potential trip hazard.
Metal grates, in general, can present potential hazards. Women’s shoes can get caught in the openings, possibly causing them to fall. Someone using a cane can have the tip get caught as well. In wet weather, the smoth metal surface can be slippery. It is considered a good idea to keep metal grates (be they for sewer or even urban tree grates) out of the normal pedestrian path of travel.
From the US Access Board’s Public Rights-of-Way Design Guide:
3.2.4.1 Gratings
Other surface features that affect accessibility include gratings and similar fittings that have horizontal openings or gaps that exceed 1/2 inch (13 mm) in the direction of travel. Such gaps can capture the small front wheel of a wheelchair or the end of a crutch, suddenly stopping forward progress and possibly leading to a tip or fall. Additionally, the frame angles in which access covers and gratings are set often result in significant gaps when installed in a sidewalk.
Metal gratings are of particular concern to pedestrians who use walking aids. When wet, the grids can be extremely slippery, and the elongated openings can become a sliding track for the tip of a crutch or cane. Slip-resistant finishes or nonmetallic materials are available at additional cost for installations where the location or extent of exposed gratings may pose a problem for pedestrians, such as on pedestrian bridges and overpasses. Where possible, gratings and similar sidewalk fittings should be located off the travel path. Note, however, that tree gratings–unless part of the pedestrian circulation route— need not meet surfacing provisions.
Slots in grates, if used, should never be in the direction of travel.
Before someone attempts to tell me nobody walks in this area let me just say it gets a good bit of pedestrian traffic. It is true that three out of the four corners of this intersection have been encroached upon by anti-pedestrian development but this is a dense urban area where people do walk. Take a look at the Google map to see for yourself, if you don’t believe me.
Throughout the city and our suburban areas I could find numerous examples of poorly designed and built area that are likely far more dangerous than this one, but that is not the point. When areas receive millions of dollars of new infrastructure work I expect public agencies to do a better job with respect to the people that will use the facilities once completed. This is poor engineering/construction and is unacceptable in my view.
UPDATE 4/26/2007 @ 8:15am:
After making the above post I contacted MSD via email with a link to this post. This morning I received the following email message from their customer serivice department:
An MSD crew was out yesterday to inspect the grate that is tilted up. The crew found the angle iron holding up one of the grates has broken away causing the grate to tilt. Mr. Steve Welnick has been informed of this. Mr. Welnick is in charge of the Grand/Bates project.
I was also given Mr. Welnick’s cell number and I spoke to him this morning, we had a very good conversation. He is working on getting a crew to weld a new angle iron so the grate will be properly supported. Mr. Welnick also indicated he reviewed the drawings (he has only been on this project since January) and it was indeed built as engineered. I asked that he have a conversation with their engineers about ADA requirements and the use of grates.
UPDATE 4/26/2007 @ 8:45am:
Mr. Welnick called me back indicating the inlet grates were existing — they were shown on their drawings only because they were already there. He is looking to see if that was an earlier MSD project or possibly from the city’s Board of Public Service.
UPDATE 4/26/2007 @ 4:30pm:
OK, now MSD is telling me that Jack is to blame? You know, the one with the big white ball head. Apparently the Jack in the Box on the corner was responsible for the grate construction. MSD is talking with the Dept of Streets as well as Jack in the Box. In the meantime, I believe MSD got the grate level so the tilt would not contribute to someone falling.
Have you ever walked in NYC before? Throughout the entire length of the subway system there are huge grates on either side of the street’s sidewalk above them. There seems to be a simple solution to this problem if it’s raining or a woman is wearing heels: walk around them.
What do you expect? When a city puts cars above people, more money is spent on roads then on areas for people to walk and live. Instead of being only a “flyover” region, we are rapidly designing/building our roads to be a “drive-through” territory as well! The streets need to be reclaimed by people and a better balance is needed if we want people to stay.
You might also note that the potted plant is placed squarely in the middle of the accessible route/sidewalk and on the landing space at the top of the ramp. It is impossible to move through this corner without using the ramp surface as part of the pathway.
Re: the grating. Federal law (since 1992) reads: “4.5.4 Gratings. If gratings are located in walking surfaces, then they shall have spaces no greater than 1/2 in (13 mm) wide in one direction (see Fig. 8(g)). If gratings have elongated openings, then they shall be placed so that the long dimension is perpendicular to the dominant direction of travel.”
While it’s nice to see the gentle slope and the contrasting detectable warning, there are clearly some detailing issues. (Are those vending machines accessible?)
Why not move the potted plant on top of the grate?
oh come on. this is a joke. i would rather have to watch my step then have to walk through puddles of water. as a student at slu rainy days are a true reason to stay home. grand seams to flood every time the sprinklers go on and i have to either wade through or jump over massive puddles to get from class to class. i can say, my dunks are not happy with MSD around slu. i will watch my step over a grate any day over walking through a river. i don’t know to much about the world, but i think this is weak post.
Keeping your feet dry and providing safe, easy to use (and federally compliant) public rights-of-way are certainly not mutually exclusive — that is Steve’s point. If we are going to pay MILLIONS of dollars for infrastructure improvement let’s make it not only functional for its engineering purposes but with no more expense usable by everyone. This is a very busy pedestrian intersection. Used particuarly often by those with disabilities (including the elderly) that live nearby. They already have to fight the drive-thru exit at that very corner creating an incredibly hazardous situation. Luckiliy, this would no longer be allowed if it were built today. But, as is the case here, we see things built all the time outside the bounds of how they are supposed to be.
If this was Altanta, heavy objects like planters couldn’t be close to the street for fear of the damage they would inflict on a vehicle, should the vehicle need to drive on the sidewalk. I guess pedestrians are expected to be more agile and move out of the way, or at least inflict less costly damage to the errant car or truck.
The sidewalks should drain toward the street by a natural slope, which appears to be the case here, so I doubt the grates are for preventing puddles. Damaged sidewalks like in the first photo will cause puddles.
The manholes may be so far from the curb (requiring grates) because earlier ones at the curb at that corner were damaged by traffic. That may be the cause of the sidewalk damage and the unlevel grate in the first photo. Steel generally holds up better than concrete, so that may be the reason the grates are there. If traffic is tough on sidewalk infrastructure, imagine how pedestrians feel.
As with anything in the built environment, there are multiple choices and solutions to any problem. This solution obviously favors the needs of the MSD over those of the city’s pedestrians. The only logical (but not defensible) excuse is limited right-of-way. Many major city streets, especially in older areas, use most of the available right-of-way to move cars, leaving little real estate for sidewalks, inlets, etc. (Plus, if you can can work out of the main traffic flow, you can minimize traffic disruptions.) Based on where the manhole covers are (set back from) relative to the curb, it appears that MSD has placed their future ease of maintenance here above daily pedestrian ease or safety or ADA compliance.
This was not built in a vaccuum. There were multiple levels of approval to get to this point. It’s just another classic example of low expectations coupled with doing the city’s business behind closed doors, without public input. (The engineers working on this work for MSD. Their charge is to move a lot of waste water quickly and economically. This is likely a big improvement [for moving runoff] over what was there before. The disconnect comes from tying their MSD needs with those of the rest of the city.)
And, as a sidenote, I’ve seen way too many grates in situations like this one get dislodged (or stolen), creating multiple hazards. The one that’s already askew is but a minor example. Just wait until one or more falls off the angle irons on the side! (That’s also why manhole covers are round and bigger than the hole they’re going in – they can’t fall off or fall through.) This is going to be an ongoing headache for MSD, the alderman and the community . . .
i still don’t get it. the only points that seam to make any sence are those that talk about money needed for upkeep. Ok, i understand that older people might slip when it is wet, but they will also not like having to walk through puddles. And yes there are blind people, but they are a small % of this population. I don’t know the whole situation, but time will tell us if this was a good, cheep, easy fix for the rest of us. I will also like to make a note that for those of us who ride bikes and motocycles, that the stl streets after a rain or during a rain are extreamly dangerous becuase of the standing water that is EVERYWHERE in this city. if these grates fix that problem, i am on board. so watch your step “slippery when wet.”
Bart:
“seams” and “seam”/”sence”/”cheep”/”extreamly”?
I’ll chalk up “motocycles” and “becuase” as typos. But you do a great disservice to your posts (and your educational institution) when you spell like a 10-year-old.
The fact that there is a Federal law concerning sewer grates points to the fact that the end times have come and have been here for about 60 years now. When I see things like this I long for the days when the government was shut down for lack of funding. Give me gridlock or give me death.
Tim, you can thank the progressives in Congress in the first half of the 20th century (and their current, often ignorant of history, progeny) for delegating to the federal Executive branch virtually unchecked power to make rules and regulations on everything under the sun. Thank the FDR appointees to the Supreme Court and their incredible interpretation of the commerce clause and separation of powers for allowing this expansion to occur. The administrative state is here forever.
Oh please. What is failed to take into account by a number of the posts is what caused this in the first place. That section of the sewer system floods everytime it rains. We aren’t talking an inch of water on the street…we are talking INCHES of water in peoples basements because the old system could not handle the amount of runoff. You cannot squeeze 100 gal thru a 10 gal pipe without increasing the opening, which is what these grates do…they get the water into the newer, bigger sewers faster before it backs up into the basements.
IN addition, MSD may have moved the pot into the traffic flow to perform some work,but I would be willing to bet it was the neighborhood group that put the planter there since those groups usually maintain them.
In addition, if one looks closely there is a rim there to support the grate, similiar to a sewer lid. Unfortunatly this design does move and is dangerous…but again, it is about open surface area to move the water. A round sewer lid is too small. Could they be welded shut? No, they must be removeable so that the sewer under it can be cleaned. Unfortunatly this provides opportunity for theft. Since it is tilted, I would surmize that either someone attempted to steal it or some kids tried to move it as a prank..in either case they found out how heavy they are and dropped it. These don’t just move by themselves and since no cars or trucks drove on the sidewalk……
The grates are positioned so that the majority of the traffic is perpendicular to them.
And while everyone is pontificating on what MSD did wrong, did anyone bother to call and lodge a complaint with them to alert them to the need for repair? Somehow I doubt it.
Craig, that’s why I hope for gridlock. I’m always pleased to hear about a “do nothing” Congress. The less they do the safer I feel.
Oh, and this whole sewer repair did give me some really cool full pipes to play around in three years ago. So they have that going for them.
Maurice – the manholes are ±10′ back from the curb, so yes, the grates are there for maintenance, but they’re not the only option/solution. Using your logic, our whole system should be covered with continuous grates (to make it easy for MSD to clean out clogs). It would’ve been just as easy to design the inlets with smooth sides and sloping bottoms (to minimize clogs) and a stout enough top (that won’t break when a semi-trailer runs over it) to have a continuous concrete sidewalk on top, like we have on pretty much ever other street corner in town!
Oh my.
I am a bit astonished at all the various answers and odd comments I’m seeing here. Please note that Federal law doesn’t actually prohibit the grates. It simply says that IF you have to do them (especially within the context of alterations), they have to have some specific characteristics in order to comply with accessible route requirements.
You should also note that this is civil rights law that we are discussing. Not safety regulations, not building code, not traffic control, not an arbritrary bit of rule making. In theory, we prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability etc. – this is generally considered a fundamental freedom in this country.
While we’re talking grates, Steve, you should take your camera down to Washington Avenue west of Tucker, where the tree grates/sidewalk grates present some real hazards. Design is part of the issue (there are too many grates in the pedestrians’ way), but the bigger issue is maintenance/durability: they’re too often missing or broken, creating holes to fall in and/or pieces of unstable grates sticking up. Not to mention the trash gathering in the tree grates. Nice.
It sends a bad message when a “renovated” area’s infrastructure is already run down. How much did we pay for that streetscape again?
Looks to me like something (big) pushed the grates, sewer cap (the whole row) back (and probably cracked the concrete). That needs fixed. I like poles on corners to keep the vehicles from cutting the corner over the sidewalks/pedestrians.
The cattle grate holes could run the other way though.
while ADA issues are important, the bigger issue is that these grates are damaged even faster than the concrete sidewalks, which are heaving everywhere, and form a bigger hazard to everyone than the grates do to the disabled. I don’t have blind people or the elderly to care for, but I do patch up a lot of skinned knees and elbows from small feet and scooter wheels catching on this stuff ….
People aside … speaking to Jim, Margie and Kevin’s points,which are dead on–Maintenance of infrastructure is one of our biggest issues as a City, a state, and even a nation … and so we’re building new infrastructure in a way that doesn’t resist common damage and requires just as much or more maintenance? Yeah, okay, the angle iron is broken–they’ll fix it but how long will it be until another SUV rolls over it and breaks it again? Can’t we please look past initial cost every once in a while and THINK about how we’re going to live with this stuff for 5, 10, 20, or even 50 years?