ADA Ramp Surveys in Oakland, CA

Oakland adopted an ADA Curb Ramp Transition Plan in 2009, and the program is administered by Oakland Public Works through its right-of-way management group, with city curb ramp standards modeled on the Caltrans curb ramp standard plans and PROWAG practice. That matters to anyone building in the Oakland right of way, because a paving or utility contract that reconstructs a corner is an alteration, and the ramps that come with it are inspected against slope numbers, not against intent. Contractors and design teams routinely need an independent measurement of what the finished ramp actually does before they sign a closeout.

The city also has two very different sets of ramp problems. Downtown and along Broadway, International Boulevard, and Fruitvale, the difficulty is dense corners with utility vaults, hydrants, and driveway aprons crowding the landing area. Up in Montclair and the hill neighborhoods, sidewalks run at grades where the required running slope and the flatness of the landing are genuinely hard to hold, and a two-foot level tells you almost nothing about a warped concrete surface. We scan or shoot the whole return so slopes are computed from a modeled surface across the ramp face, flares, landing, gutter pan, and detectable warning field, at any section line you care to check.

Commercial owners get the same treatment on private property: entrance ramps and thresholds, accessible parking stalls and access aisles where the flatness tolerance applies in every direction, and the exterior path of travel from the parking to the door. Deliverables are annotated slope and cross-slope exhibits, spot elevations, and the point cloud when a design team wants it. We document conditions and leave the compliance determination to the CASp inspector or architect. See also 3D laser scanning in Oakland and Oakland as-built surveys.