Curb Ramp and Detectable Warning Guide
How to review curb ramps, landings, flares, counter slopes, transitions, and truncated dome detectable warnings on site and civil drawings.
Curb ramps connect accessible routes across changes in curb elevation. They look simple on site plans, but they are one of the easiest details to fail because slope, cross slope, landings, flares, drainage, and detectable warning placement all have to work together.
The 2010 ADA Standards require curb ramps on accessible routes to comply with curb ramp and ramp provisions, including a maximum curb ramp running slope of 1:12, maximum adjacent counter slope of 1:20, and top landings at least as wide as the ramp and 36 inches minimum in clear length.
Plan Review Checklist
Review curb ramps on the civil plans, grading plans, landscape plans, and architectural accessibility diagrams. The most reliable review starts by tracing the full accessible route instead of checking each ramp in isolation.
- Ramp run slope, cross slope, and counter slope.
- Top landing size and location.
- Bottom clear space outside active traffic lanes where required.
- Flare slopes where pedestrians can cross the flares.
- Drainage that does not pond at the bottom of the ramp.
- Detectable warning surface size, contrast, and location.
Detectable Warnings
Detectable warnings use truncated domes to alert pedestrians who are blind or have low vision that they are entering a vehicular way or platform edge. The ADA technical criteria define dome size, dome spacing, and visual contrast.
Helonic can help flag drawing conditions where ramps, landings, sidewalks, and road grades appear inconsistent, giving the project team a cleaner path to accessibility review.
Related Resources
Catch Accessibility Conflicts in the Drawings
Helonic checks accessibility-related drawing conditions so teams can resolve curb ramp, route, slope, and landing issues before concrete is placed.
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