KTU+A

San Diego District 3 Sidewalk Study

The City of San Diego Council District 3 Sidewalk Study was an initiative put forward by Councilmember Toni Atkins for her District. The current City of San Diego policies on sidewalk maintenance places the responsibility on the adjacent property owner. There are currently very limited funds available for sidewalk repair, maintenance and installation. Sidewalks are only repaired by the city if the city was responsible for the damage or if the walkway subsided in some manner due to improper street settling or if the walkway was lifted by city street trees. However, the vast majority of sidewalk repair is the responsibility of the property owner. To assist the property owner in these repairs, each council office has discretionary funds (CDBG and General Funds) as part of a 50 / 50 program, whereby the city contracts for the work, executes the repair and charges the property owner 1/2 of the total cost. With limited funds and a very large backlog, priorities were essential to establish. The District 3 Sidewalk Study identified areas needing repair, adjacent curb and gutter work that was required, drainage issues and the areas where the cross slope of the walkway exceeded the maximum 2% mandated by ADA / Title 24.

KTU+A provided mapping support and pedestrian priority methodologies to the project engineer. The GIS model utilized for the City of San Diego Pedestrian Master Plan was adapted to local community priorities and conditions. The model was rerun to place each of the sidewalk segments to within a priority zone. KTU+A also assisted in the community outreach effort on this project and provided other inventory and mapping products.