[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]
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