Recreation Trail Vehicle Barrier Providing Access to Personal Mobility Devices

People with mobility impairments are excluded from trails, shared-use paths, parks and other public areas where barriers are erected to prevent access by motorized trail vehicles (MTVs). To ensure the safety of trail users and the integrity of the natural environment, many recreation and/or transportation trails prohibit the use of motorized vehicles. Gates and other barriers are erected at all trail access points to physically prevent the passage of MTVs, such as all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, off-highway vehicles and snow machines. However, gate and barrier designs currently used either block access only for large off-road vehicles or they block smaller motorized vehicles and also block trail access for individuals who rely on personal mobility devices (PMDs). People who use wheelchairs, hand bikes, scooters, or other PMDs have been forced to crawl on the ground in order to enter. Therefore, vehicle barriers that are currently being used all over the country do not comply with the newest ADA/ABA Accessibility Guidelines (Access Board, 2004) for gates. The purpose of this project is to develop a trail barrier that will prevent MTVs from using recreation trails while allowing access by people with mobility impairments that use wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment.