My apologies for the tardiness!
T303.9 Resting Intervals: Size: 60 inch (1525 mm) length, at least as wide as the widest trail segment adjacent to the rest area. Less than 1:20 (5%) slope in all directions. Resting areas are required where trail running slopes exceed 1:20 (5%), at intervals no greater than the lengths permitted under running slope (see T302.6.2 above).
My one comment pertains the issue of rest areas and actual construction of said rest area…while I understand the concept, the real world application is problematic. If, for example, you provide a rest area on a trail that maintains a running slope of 10.0 % for 30 feet, how can you construct a transition from the trail to the rest area, even using feathering techniques, to achieve a maximum slope or cross slope at 5%? You can apply that to any rest area design on trails over 5%… when a person in a wheelchair turns 90 degrees off the trail on a 10.3% slope, there’s no way, even with the feathering technique, to bridge the cross slope down to 5%. You could easily end up with a safety issue – possibly cause a chair to tip. Without a connecting route (trail and resting area side by side), the slope of the resting area coincides with the slope of the trail. With a connecting route to the rest area off the trail, contractors still have a formidable challenge with the transition point from the trail to the connecting route.
Maybe I am missing something but having attempted to design one on one of our trails it does not seem possible without creating potential safety issues. Thank you!
Gary Logue, CTRS
ADA Coordinator
Fairfax County Park Authority
703-324-8727: Office
703-803-3354: TTY
703-324-3976: Fax