NH DOT put in new ADA-compliant ramps and bump strips on the sidewalks in downtown Bennington last week. The update was a stipulation of the agency’s road repaving project, Town Administrator Kristie LaPlante said. The construction accommodates updates in code since the sidewalks were first brought into compliance through projects in 2010 and 2015. There had been no complaints about the sidewalk’s condition before the repairs, LaPlante said. Because resurfacing of streets constitutes an alteration under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it triggers the obligation to provide curb ramps where pedestrian walkways intersect the resurfaced streets. NH DOT has started working on replacing the tactile entrances to sidewalks with curb ramps that meet Title II of the ADA.
— By ABBE HAMILTON