With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) public transit agencies such as the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) are obligated to provide access to their services by persons with disabilities.

This has introduced numerous problems as agencies try to comply with this new law within the given deadlines. Existing bus and rail systems must consider access to stations, stops and transit equipment.

Current conditions must be evaluated, and design strategies developed to make systems that may have been built over a century ago accessible. With today’s limited funding for transit agencies this must be accomplished in the most cost effective way.

To do this, new and innovative methods of access must be considered and techniques employed that allow for rapid evaluation. The Design Visualization Laboratory (DVL) and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago are assisting the CTA in this process utilizing state-of-the-art visualization technologies.

URL

Browning, D., Edel, J., Virtual Reality and Accessible Transit Design: New Access Methods Project, The Design Visualization Laboratory, UIC School of Art and Design, Chicago, IL, June 1st, 1995. http://www.evl.uic.edu/drew/sun0713.htm