Meet CP&Y’s Accessibility Specialists
CP&Y opened its western-most office in Colorado Springs in 2012. Now, nearly nine years later, our Colorado team has grown to include a variety of engineering and planning staff and the accessibility specialists at Meeting the Challenge, Inc., A CP&Y Company (MTC). As a wholly-owned subsidiary of CP&Y, MTC provides our clients with the following ADA accessibility and consulting services:
Self-evaluation and Transition Plans
Parks and Recreation Audits
Facility Audits
Architectural Plan Review
Public Right-of-Way Audits
ADA Lawsuit Audits
Website Accessibility Audits
Ongoing ADA Technical Assistance
ADA Training Development and Facilitation
Since 1989 and before its acquisition by CP&Y, MTC has operated the Rocky Mountain ADA Center (RMADAC or simply “the Center”), one of ten federally-funded technical assistance centers in the U.S. that are in place to help businesses, governments, and individuals understand and implement the ADA. Bringing 30 years of ADA accessibility consulting experience, MTC continues to work in tandem with the Center to offer information, guidance, and training on all aspects of the ADA to residents within a six-state region, working in partnership with CP&Y’s engineers to assist clients with design and implementation questions.
CP&Y’s Colorado Office Offers Even More
With 26 Employee Owners available for a variety of project types, CP&Y’s Colorado Springs office also provides the following engineering services:
Bridge/Structural Design
Roadway Design
Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Design
Traffic Control Plan Design
Traffic Analysis and Design
Stormwater Design
Stormwater Management and Erosion Control
Civil Site Design
Environmental Permitting and Planning
Construction Management and Inspection
Roundabout Design
CP&Y’s Colorado-based engineers, planners, and accessibility specialists interact seamlessly as a full-service team for infrastructure projects. This team is often paired with other Employee Owners across the country to expand the services we provide clients in a given region.
Greater than the sum of its parts, CP&Y also offers the following services to our Colorado clients:
Public Involvement
Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping
Water and Wastewater Design
Airport Design
Architecture
When our accessibility specialists, engineers, and planners work together across practice groups and offices, CP&Y creates accessible facilities for the future. As Colorado continues to experience growth, CP&Y sees an increased need for upgraded and new infrastructure that will accommodate all residents of all abilities for years to come.
How Disciplines Interconnect at CP&Y
For multi-disciplinary projects, success is achieved by integrating a variety of professionals as early as possible to facilitate collaboration, which in turn encourages our team to share insight and expertise.
CP&Y's approach is human-centered and focuses not only on the built environment, but also on the policies, practices, and training that support ADA compliance. State and local government entities are required to ensure that people with disabilities are provided equal access to all programs, services, and activities. To that end, we partner with clients to find the most cost-effective ways to remediate barriers while providing equal access to all.
Project Examples
Below are three examples of how CP&Y connected specialized engineering resources with accessibility specialists at MTC.
City of Littleton: PROWAG ADA Audit
CP&Y’s accessibility, engineering, and planning teams assisted the City of Littleton in a multi-phase project with an overall goal of improving accessibility in City programs, facilities, and right-of-way.
During Phase One of the Littleton ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan project, CP&Y completed a facility survey and developed a Transition Plan Database for Littleton’s facilities. We also completed an inventory and review of Littleton’s ADA policies and provided policy templates for recommended ADA policies to comply with ADA Title II regulations.
For Phase Two, a survey and analysis of Littleton’s pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way was completed. We provided a Transition Plan Database with findings and GPS data compatible with the City’s GIS database. Findings were prioritized based on location and program access demand and given rough order of magnitude cost estimates of mitigation difficulty.
During Phase Three of this project, CP&Y’s multi-discipline team of engineers, planners, and accessibility specialists provided opinions of probable construction costs, with design standards, for correction of findings in the public right-of-way, along with a logical organization and prioritization of projects necessary to improve accessibility throughout the City.
We also provided additional ADA consulting services including a Littleton website accessibility assessment, and training for City management and staff, targeted toward needs identified in management interviews and staff surveys. Our environmental and GIS staff worked with City Public Works and Planning staff to incorporate the Transition Plan Database into the City’s geospatial and asset management databases. Our team also helped the City to prioritize the improvements based on the location of the element with respect to covered entities in order to maximize the benefit to the public.
Throughout the project, the RMADAC team provided technical assistance to our team, particularly in complex situations with a focus on program access.
El Paso County: Colorado ADA Transition Plan and Engineering Criteria Manual (ECM) Revisions
A project for the El Paso County Public Works Department and Engineering Division included writing a new chapter for the County’s ECM to come into full compliance with ADA and Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) standards for all new and altered facilities as well as CDOT, AASHTO, and local engineering requirements. The new chapter includes technical revision of standard drawings.
The process included facilitation of meetings between El Paso County and the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Springs to verify specifications and standards were clear and understandable for the design and construction communities.
In addition, CP&Y worked alongside El Paso County for Highway Advisory Committee approval of the added chapter and revisions of the ECM. Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioner provided final approval in June of 2020.
CP&Y's engineering and accessibility groups worked collaboratively with County staff to determine the relevant ADA standards and guidance, recommend best practices, develop a detailed resource that is easily understood by designers and contractors, and most importantly make the county more accessible. Through the entire project, CP&Y’s team relied on the technical expertise of RMADAC staff to work through the nuanced application of ADA and PROWAG Standards.
Jefferson County: Colorado Administration and Courts Building Design
In the fall of 2018, MTC worked with Jefferson County to conduct an ADA compliance audit of its accessible parking and accessible routes at the County’s Administration Building in Golden, Colorado. After a survey of the parking facility at the site and the accessible routes to building entrances, MTC documented a significant number of conditions that were not compliant with scoping and technical provisions of the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.
MTC evaluated the conditions and provided recommendations for eleven alternative approaches for providing the required number of compliant/accessible parking spaces connected to accessible routes to the building. To support its recommendations, MTC consulted the U.S. Access Board for their opinion of best practices to achieve compliance with ADA Standards.
Together, CP&Y’s engineering and accessibility groups met with County leaders to assess the impacts of the different alternatives and plan future projects to improve accessibility on the site. Our engineering team developed Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E) for projects to reconstruct two pedestrian access routes into the building from the public right-of-way and transit facilities. During construction, CP&Y’s team assisted with construction management and administration. After the project is complete, MTC will once again audit the site to verify that the improvements comply with ADA Standards before the County accepts the final construction.
So, Why CP&Y?
As these examples demonstrate, CP&Y and MTC have provided a multitude of successful transportation and accessibility projects within the state of Colorado. We pride ourselves on each of these projects as they have led to improved and accessible roads, bridges, sidewalks, and trails in the communities where we live.
The success of our team on our projects is based on our extensive experience in accessibility, which allows us to take a holistic approach with related engineering services, a genuine culture of collaboration, and a passion for making our communities better by making them more accessible to everyone.
