Tactile Walking Surface Indicators to Aid Wayfinding for Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities

3:00 pm ET

Presenters: 

• Billie Louise (Beezy) Bentzen, Accessible Design for the Blind
• Sarah Worth O'Brien, University of North Carolina, Highway Safety Research
• Alan Scott, Accessible Design for the Blind 
• Kevin W. Jensen, San Francisco Public Works 

Pedestrians with vision disabilities face particular wayfinding challenges at skewed intersections, at midblock crossings, in large open spaces that must be traversed, in transit facilities, and in quick-build street and intersection modifications. The findings from five research studies will be presented to share what was learned regarding the detectability, discriminability, and usability of individual and systems of tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) to provide guidance across a range of diverse transportation settings, including at quick-build curb extensions and floating transit stops. This webinar will begin with Beezy Bentzen clarifying the important differences between these three types TWSIs for pedestrians who are vision disabled, and continue with brief summaries of research conducted in Raleigh NC, Sarasota, FL, Alexandria, VA, and Seattle, WA, on use of TDIs for finding hard-to-find crosswalks and aligning to cross, and research in San Francisco to identify a surface to be used as a delineator between pedestrians and bicycles at separated bicycle lanes at sidewalk level. Kevin Jensen will present examples of installations of TWDs in San Francisco. Sarah O'Brien will introduce work on two projects, TCRP B-46 Tactile Walking Surface Indicators to Aid Wayfinding for Visually Impaired Travelers in Multimodal Travel, and FHWA TOPR HEPH210023PR Informational Report on Accessibility at Innovative New and Quick- Build Pedestrian and Bicycle Designs. Alan Scott will summarize the results of research under these projects, which was conducted in Chapel Hill, NC, Seattle, WA, Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC.

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