Five Guys Adds ADA Accessible Route To Reach Former Blockbuster
Back in March I photographed the lack of an ADA accessible route from the public sidewalk to the Lindell Marketplace building that once contained a Blockbuster video rental store. For years pedestrians have had to walk in the auto driveway, risking getting hit.
I was pleasantly surprised months later when Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened in the west end of the former Blockbuster — they’d added an ADA accessible route before opening!
They had to modify the fence, pour concrete in two places and stripe the route. It was the right thing to do, it’s just refreshing to see it done without having to ask.
And yes, I stopped and had lunch there recently.
— Steve Patterson
A couple of thoughts . . . One, you should follow up on a couple of previous locations that you highlighted in the past, the Schlafly Bottleworks and the Bread Company at Chippewa and Lansdowne, who have both made similar modifications. Yes, you had to push them, but they both now have much better pedestrian access.
Two, while this is technically both an improvement and in compliance with the ADAAG, I’m afraid that a false sense of security has also been created. By taking the easy way out and just restriping a couple of existing parking spaces and connecting them with a striped, diagonal crosswalk, and not providing any buffers from parked vehicles (like bulb-outs or stop signs), especially next to Lindell, it does little to change the reality that people using wheelchairs are still competing with parked vehicles, especially vans and SUV’s, to be seen by people driving in the parking lot. As we all know, crosswalks don’t carry a lot of weight / are not well respected around here, and mid-block and, in this case, mid-aisle, ones are even less noticed or respected. Unfortunately, given that this structure is surrounded on all sides by parking, there really aren’t any significantly-better options available.
I agree this isn’t ideal, I felt very exposed crossing. It’s better than using the in/out driveway but far from what I’d call a good solution.
I already posted the follow up to Schlafly Bottleworks, showing their new access route. I visited the Bread Co on Chippewa earlier this week and will have a follow up very soon.