94-14666. Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities; Proposed Rule DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION  

  • [Federal Register Volume 59, Number 117 (Monday, June 20, 1994)]
    [Unknown Section]
    [Page 0]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 94-14666]
    
    
    [[Page Unknown]]
    
    [Federal Register: June 20, 1994]
    
    
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    Part IV
    
    
    
    
    
    Department of Transportation
    
    
    
    
    
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    Office of the Secretary
    
    
    
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    49 CFR Parts 27 and 37
    
    
    
    
    Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities; Proposed Rule
    DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
    
    Office of the Secretary
    
    49 CFR Parts 27 and 37
    
    [Docket 49602; Notice 94-8]
    RIN 2105-AC06
    
     
    Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities
    
    AGENCY: Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary.
    
    ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).
    
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    SUMMARY: The Department is proposing to amend its rules implementing 
    the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by adopting as its standards 
    revised accessibility guidelines issued by the Architectural and 
    Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). The Access 
    Board has published these revised accessibility guidelines as interim 
    final rules elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The 
    proposed rule would also make a conforming change to the Department's 
    rule implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as 
    amended. The rules would expand the Department's accessibility 
    standards to cover public rights-of-way and other subjects added by the 
    Access Board to its guidelines.
    
    DATES: Comments are requested by August 19, 1994. Late-filed comments 
    will be considered to the extent practicable.
    
    ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposed rule should be sent, preferably in 
    triplicate, to Docket Clerk, Docket No., 49602 Department of 
    Transportation, 400 7th Street SW., Room 4107, Washington, DC, 20590. 
    Comments will be available for inspection at this address from 9:00 
    a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Commenters who wish the 
    receipt of their comments to be acknowledged should include a stamped, 
    self-addressed postcard with their comments. The Docket Clerk will 
    date-stamp the postcard and mail it back to the commenter.
        Comments on the Access Board interim final rule establishing 
    revised Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for 
    Buildings and Facilities, which underlies this rule and which is 
    published elsewhere in today's Federal Register, should be sent to: 
    Office of the General Counsel, Architectural and Transportation 
    Barriers Compliance Board, 1331 F Street, NW., Suite 1000, Washington, 
    DC, 20004-1111. For further information on comments, see the beginning 
    of SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert C. Ashby, Deputy Assistant 
    General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement, Department of 
    Transportation, 400 7th Street, SW., Room 10424, Washington, DC, 20590. 
    (202) 366-9306 (voice); (202) 755-7687 (TDD). Copies will be made 
    available in alternative formats on request.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: All timely comments received by the Access 
    Board on its guidelines published December 21, 1992 (57 FR 60612), and 
    on its interim final rule published today, will be deemed by the 
    Department to have been submitted in response to this proposed rule and 
    will be considered fully as the Department works toward a final rule 
    based on this proposal. Therefore, it is not necessary for any comments 
    submitted to the Board on its proposed or interim rules to be 
    resubmitted to the Department.
        Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, the Architectural and 
    Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB) is publishing 
    amendments to its accessibility guidelines for buildings and 
    facilities, relating to state and local government facilities. The 
    Department's September 6, 1991, final Americans with Disabilities Act 
    (ADA) rule (49 CFR Part 37) adopted the original version of these 
    guidelines, known as the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility 
    Guidelines (ADAAG), as its accessibility standards for facilities 
    subject to Part 37. The standards are codified as Appendix A to 49 CFR 
    Part 37.
        This proposed rule would adopt the amended Access Board guidelines 
    as a new Appendix A to Part 37, replacing the Department's current 
    Appendix A. The Access Board received public comments on its proposed 
    guidelines, published on December 21, 1992, and will receive comments 
    again on today's interim final rule. As a member of the Access Board, 
    the Department will be actively involved in the review and analysis of 
    comments the Access Board receives and in making any revisions on the 
    guidelines in response to those comments. Therefore, the Department has 
    proposed to adopt the amended guidelines as its accessibility 
    standards. Comments submitted to the Access Board will be considered by 
    the Department as comments on this proposed rule, and need not be 
    separately submitted to the Department.
        Consistent with the Department of Justice's existing rule 
    implementing Title II of the ADA, for state and local government 
    facilities, the Department's rule implementing section 504 of the 
    Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (49 CFR Part 27) gives recipients the 
    choice, in some circumstances, of complying either with the ADAAG or 
    with the older Uniform Federal Accessibility Standard (UFAS). In its 
    ADA proposal being published today, DOJ is proposing to eliminate the 
    option to use UFAS. Title II entities would have to use ADAAG in all 
    cases. To remain consistent with Access Board and Department of Justice 
    actions, the Department is also proposing to eliminate the UFAS option. 
    To this end, the Department proposes to revise its 504 rule to require 
    design, construction, or alteration of all facilities subject to Part 
    27 to conform to the revised AADAG. As a technical amendment, the 
    Department is also proposing to update a reference in Part 27 to 
    Department of Justice ADA regulations.
        On November 30, 1993, the Department amended Part 37 to extend the 
    compliance deadline for the requirement to install detectable warnings 
    on platform edges of key rail stations. The final rule reaffirmed the 
    Department's view that detectable warnings are an essential safety 
    feature of rail stations for persons with impaired vision. The 
    Department is not, through this proposal, seeking further comment on 
    the issue of detectable warnings on rail station platform edges. The 
    Department will regard any comments received on this subject as outside 
    the scope of this rulemaking.
    
    Regulatory Analyses and Notices
    
        This NPRM has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget 
    under Executive Order 12866. The Access Board has analyzed the impact 
    of applying its amendments to ADAAG to entities covered by Titles II 
    and III of the ADA and has determined that they are a significant 
    regulatory action for purposes of the Executive Order. The Access Board 
    has also prepared a Regulatory Assessment, which includes a cost impact 
    analysis for certain accessibility elements and a discussion of the 
    regulatory alternatives considered. This Regulatory Assessment applies 
    to the Department's proposed adoption of the Access Board's guidelines. 
    Comments submitted to the Access Board on its Regulatory Assessment 
    will be considered by the Department as comments on this NPRM.
        The Access Board has determined that its guidelines will have a 
    significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
    and, therefore, has included in its Regulatory Assessment a Regulatory 
    Flexibility Analysis. The Access Board has made every effort to lessen 
    the economic impacts of its proposed rule on small entities, but 
    recognizes that such impacts are the necessary result of the mandate of 
    the ADA itself. The Access Board's flexibility analysis also applies to 
    the Department's proposed adoption of the revised ADAAG.
        The Access Board also made every effort to lessen the impact of its 
    proposed guidelines on state and local governments, but recognizes that 
    the guidelines will have some federalism impacts. These impacts are 
    discussed in the Access Board's Regulatory Assessment which, as noted 
    above, also applies to this NPRM.
    
    List of Subjects
    
    49 CFR Part 27
    
        Administrative practice and procedure, Airports, Civil rights, 
    Individuals with disabilities, Highways and roads, Reporting and 
    recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.
    
    49 CFR Part 37
    
        Buildings and facilities, Buses, Civil rights, Individuals with 
    disabilities, Mass transportation, Railroads, Reporting and 
    recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.
    
        Issued this 3rd day of May 1994, at Washington, DC.
    Federico Pena,
    Secretary of Transportation.
    
        For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department proposes 
    to amend subtitle A of title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations as 
    set forth below:
    
    PART 27--[AMENDED]
    
        1. The authority citation for part 27, would continue to read as 
    follows:
    
        Authority: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as 
    amended (29 U.S.C. 794); secs. 16(a) and 16(d) of the Federal 
    Transit Act of 1964, as amended; sec. 165(b) of the Federal-aid 
    Highway Act of 1973 (49 U.S.C. 142 nt.); the Americans with 
    Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101-12213); and 49 U.S.C. 322.
    
        2. In Sec. 27.3, paragraph (b) is proposed to be revised to read as 
    follows:
    
    
    Sec. 27.3  Applicability.
    
    * * * * *
        (b) Design, construction, or alteration of buildings or other fixed 
    facilities by entities subject to section 504 shall be in conformance 
    with Appendix A to part 37 of this title.
    
    
    Sec. 27.19  [Amended]
    
        3. Section 27.19 is proposed to be amended, in paragraph (a), by 
    revising the parenthetical following the words ``the regulations of the 
    Department of Justice implementing Titles II and III of the ADA'' to 
    read ``(28 CFR Parts 35, 36, and 37)''.
    
    PART 37--[AMENDED]
    
        4. The authority citation for part 37, would continue to read as 
    follows:
    
        Authority: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 
    U.S.C. 12101-12213); and 49 U.S.C. 322.
    
        5. Appendix A to Part 37, ``Standards for Accessible Transportation 
    Facilities,'' is proposed to be amended as follows:
    
    Appendix A to Part 37--Standards for Accessible Transportation 
    Facilities
    
    [Note: The text of the proposed amendments is identical to the text 
    of the Access Board's interim final rule (36 CFR part 1191, Appendix 
    A) published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.]
    
    [FR Doc. 94-14666 Filed 6-17-94; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 4910-62-U
    
    
    

Document Information

Published:
06/20/1994
Entry Type:
Uncategorized Document
Action:
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).
Document Number:
94-14666
Dates:
Comments are requested by August 19, 1994. Late-filed comments will be considered to the extent practicable.
Pages:
0-0 (1 pages)
Docket Numbers:
Federal Register: June 20, 1994
CFR: (2)
49 CFR 27.3
49 CFR 27.19