Projects submitted to the CCRAB & Campus Building Department (CBD) for access compliance review must provide documentation of the existing conditions of the path of travel (POT) to the project area. This guide describes what to include in construction documents submitted to CCRAB for alterations to existing facilities. POT improvements are required as a part of alteration, addition or structural repair projects in accordance with the Chapter 11B-202.4 of the California Building Code (CBC) in effect at the time of submittal. These requirements are in alignment with those established by the Division of the State Architect (DSA) for projects proposing to alter existing facilities.
These guidelines apply to new construction on a project site as well as to alteration, addition and structural repair of any existing construction.
POT Documentation Requirements
Construction documents shall clearly delineate the path of travel for a project, including any upgrades of path of travel elements, as required by the CBC. It is essential that the path of travel shown be an accurate representation of the actual field conditions at the time the project is submitted to CCRAB & CBD.
Documenting Existing Conditions
The compliance status of path of travel elements, components and features shall be examined by or under the direction of the design professional in responsible charge during the preparation of the construction documents.
Required Documentation
Path of travel documentation shall include:
- A facility site plan showing the overall extent of the property on which the project is located, existing buildings and site improvements in diagrammatic form.
- Indication on the facility site plan of the project’s area of work.
- Indication on the facility site plan of the project-specific accessible path of travel, beginning at the site arrival points and ending at the entrance to the area of alteration, addition or structural repair.
- Indication of the interior path of travel when the project area is within an existing building, including a plan of the primary entrance floor and in a multi-story building a plan of the floor on which the project area is located.
- Indication of any noncompliant path of travel elements, components or features that will be upgraded as part of the project, along with the key references to appropriate details and enlarged plans.
- When applicable, indication of any noncompliant path of travel elements that will not be upgraded as part of the project, based on valuation threshold limitations or a finding of unreasonable hardship.
- Project-specific plans and details for any required path of travel upgrades, suitable for cn and inspection; general references to “code compliance” or standard details requiring extensive modification to suit project conditions shall not be sufficient.
Use of Prior Project Documentation
Use of documentation from prior projects does not necessarily relieve the project team of their responsibility to accurately indicate the compliance status of the required path of travel elements serving the area of the alteration, addition or structural repair. The design team must demonstrate that the documents submitted to CCRAB accurately represent the current conditions of the path of travel to the area of work.
POT Improvements to Consider
As described in Ch. 11B-202.4 the design team must give primary consideration to improving the accessibility of the following elements, in order, when altering existing facilities:
- An accessible entrance;
- An accessible route to the altered area;
- At least one accessible restroom for each sex or one accessible unisex (single-user or family) restroom;
- Accessible telephones;
- Accessible drinking fountains; and
- When possible, additional accessible elements such as parking, signs, storage and alarms.
In many cases addressing the accessibility of those elements will meet or exceed the required 20% of construction costs required for access improvements. If a project either 1) has an estimated construction cost exceeding the current valuation threshold or 2) needs to identify additional access improvements to reach the 20% mark, the design team should evaluate the current accessibility of the following elements:
- Exterior or interior signs along the path of travel
- Accessible route components
- Walking surfaces dimensions
- Running slope of walking surfaces, not to exceed 1:20 (5%)
- Running slope of ramps, not to exceed 1:12 (8.33%)
- Cross slope of walks and ramps not to exceed 1:48 (2.083%)
- Landings and level area slopes not to exceed 1:48 (2.083%)
- Vertical changes in level
- Openings in drains and gratings not to exceed ½ inch in predominant direction of travel
- Protruding objects and overhead obstructions in the path of travel
- Site arrival points, such as parking, passenger drop-off and loading zones, and bus stops
