Beneficial Designs, Inc.
2240 Meridian Blvd, Suite C
Minden, NV 89423-8628
775.783.8822 ph
775.783.8823 fax
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Designing an Accessible Vehicle Barrier for
Trails
Phase 1 Begins for Beneficial Designs’ Newest
Trail Project
Trail Vehicle Barriers
Devices Used on Trails
Project Summary
People with disabilities are often prevented from
using
trails that prohibit motorized vehicles. Land
management agencies are required to provide
accessible facilities, but current gate designs
that are
accessible to personal mobility devices (PMDs),
such as wheelchairs, also permit access by small
motorized vehicles (e.g., snow machines,
motorcycles). As a result, land managers must choose
between providing access to people with disabilities
and protecting the trail environment from
degradation through motorized use. This project will
design a trail gate that: prevents motorized
vehicle access, allows all non-motorized users
and PMDs, and is consistent with accessibility
legislation. The results of this project will
provide technical benefits through enhanced
accessible design capability, economic benefits
to rural communities of up to $140,000/year/mile of
trail, and social benefits through enhancing the
community participation and health of people with
disabilities and their families.
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Accessible Trail
Vehicle
Barrier Project Goals
This research project will develop a trail
vehicle
barrier that:
- Prevents trail access by motorized vehicles,
- Allows all non-motorized users, including
people who use personal mobility devices (PMDs)
such as walkers, wheelchairs or power scooters,
and
- Is consistent with accessibility
legislation.
Phase 1 of the project (May to December 2005)
will establish the feasibility of
designing an
accessible trail
vehicle
barrier, identify distinguishing characteristics
of motorized trail vehicles (MTVs) and personal
mobility devices (PMDs), document the performance
characteristics of MTVs and PMDs, develop at least
three initial design concepts for an
accessible trail
vehicle
barrier, and conduct a market survey of land
managers on the commercialization issues related to
the new
barrier design.
Phase 2 of this research (Fall 2006-2008) will
build and evaluate the designs developed during
Phase 1. The evaluation process will include
assessments of the design suitability for different
trail environments, design accessibility to trail
users with and without disabilities and the
effectiveness of the design in preventing MTV
access.
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Have Your Say! (Survey)
Gathering information and feedback from land
managers and trail users is crucial to the success
of this project. Please help us to develop the best
trail
vehicle
barrier possible by providing us with your
thoughts and recommendations. Please use the links
below to answer our survey questions.
Let us know about the trail users on your
trails.
Which users are allowed and which are prohibited
Let us know about the trail barriers that you
currently have on your
trails.
What is the
barrier make and model, who
manufacturers/sells the
barrier, describe how the
barrier functions, what users is it supposed
to allow and prohibit, how successful is it in
meeting your needs.
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Ideas for
Accessible Barriers
Let us know your ideas for an
accessible
trail
vehicle
barrier.
Do you know of existing trail
vehicle barriers intended to be
accessible? Do you have ideas about the type
of
barrier that might work for your
trails?
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Requirements for Commercial Success
Let us know the key features of a commercially
successful trail
vehicle
barrier. What should it be made of, how should it be
installed, what maintenance should be required,
how long should it be expected to last, how much
should it cost to purchase.
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Funding
This work is funded by the United States
Department of Agriculture Cooperative State
Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES)
under Small Business Innovation Research Phase I
Grant #2005-00325. Top |