ADA Transition Plan Summary

Revitalizing Madison’s ADA Transition Plan

Summary of Proposed ADA Transition Plan, May 2025

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law. It protects the rights of people with disabilities in public life. It requires public entities like the City of Madison provide services, programs, and activities that are accessible and useable for people with disabilities. When the ADA was signed into law in 1990, public entities were required to look at all their programs, facilities, employment policies, and the public right-of-way to identify barriers to access. They were to develop an ADA Transition Plan so they could plan to remove barriers to access for people with disabilities over time.

Madison enacted an ADA Transition Plan in the 1990s and has maintained ADA compliance. However, the City of Madison has grown and changed since the 1990’s and so have the compliance requirements. Although there is no requirement that a city revitalize their ADA Transition Plan, the City of Madison is committed to improving access and inclusion for all its residents. Therefore, we have decided to update and revitalize our ADA Transition Plan. 

An ADA Transition Plan includes:

• A self-evaluation of all City of Madison programs, facilities, public right-of-way, and employment policies
• A description of the access barriers we identified in the self-evaluation and our plan to remove the barriers to access and achieve full compliance with the ADA

Identifying barriers to access is a key part of creating a meaningful ADA Transition Plan. This plan will provide a framework for the City of Madison to work towards removing barriers to access in the years to come.

We recognize that collaboration with residents with disabilities is an important part of developing an effective ADA Transition Plan. We worked with Access to Independence, a local disability-led organization, as a consultant to help us in the process of evaluating and updating the public right-of-way portion of the ADA Transition Plan. We welcome and encourage comments and suggestions, especially from Disabled Madison residents/residents with disabilities and disability-led organizations. 

Send questions and comments to the designated ADA Coordinator for the City of Madison:

Submit public comment 

Rebecca Hoyt
Disability Rights and Services Specialist
RHoyt@cityofmadison.com
(608) 266-6511

Read the full Madison ADA Transition Plan

Request alternate formats, accommodations or translation by contacting: RHoyt@cityofmadison.com or LAP@cityofmadison.com

Programs, Services, and Activities

Each City of Madison agency completed a self-evaluation of its compliance with the ADA requirements. The evaluation included program accessibility, effective communication, non-discrimination in contracts and licenses, and ticket sales. We also reviewed policies and procedures for our Language Access Program and other centralized services. Through the self-evaluation process we found that the City was fully compliant in the areas of contracts and licenses and ticket sales. Individual agencies were compliant in many areas. However, we identified barriers in program access and effective communication.

For more information, see Appendix IV - Summary Self-Evaluation Report: Programs, Services and Activities of the Madison ADA Transition Plan

Removing Barriers to Access

We will take the following actions to remove barriers to access in City of Madison programs, services and activities by December 31, 2025:

1. Training:
   • Service and Support Animals in Places of Public Accommodation
   • ADA and Effective Communication
   • Language Line On-Demand Interpretation Services
2. Policy and Guidance:
   • Reasonable modifications and accommodations  
   • Notice requirements related to the availability of and how to request accommodations and language access services
3. Equipment:
   • Programs will ensure all staff who interact with the public have access to a phone for On-Demand Language Line Interpretation services over the phone. This means they can communicate with people who use spoken languages other than English.
   • Programs will ensure that staff who interact with the public have access to a device for Language Line On-Demand Video Interpretation services. This means they can communicate with people who use American Sign Language and other sign languages.

Additional Recommendations

Residents also provided the following recommendations at the 2023 Disability Summit to support the City’s efforts to extend program access beyond ADA compliance:  

1. Incorporate universal design principles in communications and information sharing.
2. Information about City programs and services should be easy to find and easy to use. For example: plain language, alternative formats, and languages other than English.  
3. Work to streamline application processes and user experience for City services.
4. Develop multi-modal ways to engage with the community. For example: social media, one stop resource guides, information hubs and through community partners.
5. Diverse programing to appeal to Disabled residents through different stages of life and from different cultural backgrounds and lived experiences.

If you have a concern about the accessibility of a City of Madison program, contact Rebecca Hoyt, Disability Rights and Services Specialist (ADA Coordinator) at RHoyt@cityofmadison.com  or 608-266-6511.

For more information, see Part I of the  Madison ADA Transition Plan.

Website and Electronic Information and Technology

The Department of Justice announced updated requirements for web content and mobile applications in April 2024. It will be requiring the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level 2.1 AA by April 26, 2026. This means federals standards will now include the access needs of a wider range of people with disabilities. For example: people with blindness and low vision, people who are d/Deaf or have hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and some learning and cognitive disabilities. The new standards also consider the ways people with disabilities access information such as through desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.

The self-evaluation process identified that auto-generated captions are available in all virtual meetings hosted by the City of Madison and CART services are available upon request. Our livestreamed and recorded meetings do not automatically include captioning, and we need to make transcripts easier to access for people who need them. We are also aware that many, especially older, unarchived documents and videos do not conform to WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Our legacy websites, which are websites with outdated frameworks, are pending upgrades to conform to WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Some of our public-facing software, applications, and web-content are offered by third-party vendors and may not be fully compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Additionally, each department manages its web content. This means full compliance requires a wide range of training, support, and facilitation from Information Technology.

Removing Barriers to Access

Overall, the City of Madison has maintained conformance to current WCAG standards and is on track to meet the minimum WCGA 2.1 AA standards by April 26, 2026. As part of our ADA transition planning, we expect to have internal digital content and software conform to WCAG 2.1 AA by December 31, 2026, and Section 508 standards by December 31, 2031.

To report an accessibility problem with a City website or application, visit the policy webpage or call 608-266-4506.

More information, see Website and Electronic Information and Technology in the Madison ADA Transition Plan

Public Facilities

The ADA requires that facilities open to the public be useable and accessible for people with disabilities. The United States Access Board issues design standards for facilities based on when the facility was built or altered. Facilities open to the public include buildings and offices like parts of the Madison Municipal Building and the City County Building, Metro Administrative Offices, Madison Senior Center, Libraries, Police Stations, and Public Health offices. Other types of facilities evaluated include 269 of our 282 parks, parking lots and garages, and facilities that offer tours to the public.

Buildings and Offices

We found that most offices and building had some compliance issues. The most common issues were with wayfinding and other signage, door weight and closing speed, and protruding objects in the path of circulation. Some evaluations revealed greater concerns. For example, there is a lack of accessible parking or non-compliant accessible public restrooms. The major access barriers were limited considering the large number of city offices and buildings evaluated.

Parks Division Facilities

Many of the barriers identified are issues with the paving, curb cuts, or uneven paths of travel. The Parks Division has many parking lot reconstruction projects already included in its 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The remaining barriers to access for parks and recreation facilities can be removed through the 5-year Capital Improvement Plan over time. Playgrounds built after 2013 must meet the 2010 ADA design standards before opening. The Parks Division has an annual Capital Improvement Plan that allocates funding for 5-10 playgrounds to be replaced annually, so that a full system replacement occurs on a 20-year cycle.  The City has also partnered with the Madison Parks Foundation to build four inclusive playgrounds at strategically located parks: Elver Park, Brittingham Park, Rennebohm Park, and Warner Park with plans to build a fifth at Reindahl Park.

Parking Lots and Garages

Based on the self-evaluation, the Blair Lot is fully compliant. Other parking facilities, including the Buckeye Lot, Evergreen Lot, South Livingston Street Garage, and State Street Capital Garage, have a small number of compliance issues such as incorrect signage or sign height, door weight and closing speed, or require additional accessible parking stalls to meet the required standards. More resource-intensive compliance issues were identified at the Wingra Lot, which needs to be regraded. The weight and closing speed of the doors at the Wilson Street Garage is also a large project. Some parking facilities such as the Capitol Square North Garage, Overture Center Garage and State Street Campus (Frances) Garage predate the ADA design standards. For these facilities, the agency will remove any barriers to access that are readily achievable.

Facilities Offering Public Tours

The Madison Fire Department and Madison Water Utility offer tours of employee facilities to the public. Facilities that are not open to the public are not required to meet the 2010 ADA Design Standards. However, public tours may be considered an activity provided by these agencies. The City will take steps to ensure the accessibility of these activities even though not all the facilities can be feasibly made accessible. The Fire Department will prioritize bringing the tour route at Fire Stations 1, 7, 11 - 14 into compliance with relevant standards. Water Utility will prioritize achieving full compliance on tour routes at Unit Well 7 and Unit Well 31 and work to identify additional facilities over the next three years.

Removing Barriers to Access

A full description of barriers, cost, timeline, department, for each facility is available in Appendix VI - Schedule, Cost, and Priorities for Removal of Access Barriers in Public Facilities of the Madison ADA Transition Plan. Barriers were given a priority ranking as follows:

1. Approach and Entrance: elements needed to get into the building like parking, accessible route, curb ramps, ramps, entrance, elevators, etc.
2. Access to Goods & Services: elements needed to access areas of the building like seating areas, rooms and spaces, wayfinding signs, service counters, elevators, and more.
3. Toilet Rooms: all aspects of an ADA compliant public restroom.
4. Additional Services: additional elements like water fountains, public telephones, audible and visual fire alarms, etc.

The City of Madison will take steps to remove barriers to access in public facilities where it is possible by December 31, 2040. Some barriers to access need to be explored further to see if it is possible to remove the barrier and to learn more about the scope and cost of the project. These will be further evaluated and included in a Plan Addendum by December 31, 2030. Parks and recreation facilities will be addressed through Capital Improvement Plan projects, system upgrades and independent projects so that parks and recreation facilities can be made compliant by December 31, 2055. 

In addition, we will take the following actions by the end of 2025:

1. Training to relevant Engineering and other staff on ADA Desing Standards.
2. All new facilities will be evaluated for ADA compliance. A plan for removing barriers to access will be developed and submitted to the Disability Rights and Services Program. Progress towards removing barriers to access will be monitored as part of the ADA Transition Plan.
3. The City will commit to changing leasing only spaces that are compliant with 2010 ADA Design Standards or are able to be modified to address non-compliance issues without much cost or effort.
4. The Disability Rights and Services Program and Engineering will develop city-wide guidance about accessible wayfinding and directional signage.

Additional Recommendations

Residents also provided the following recommendations at the 2023 Disability Summit to support the City’s efforts to enhance the accessibility and usability of City facilities beyond ADA compliance:  

1. Provide learning opportunities for City planners and engineers about universal design and incorporate universal design principles in new construction and renovations where feasible.
2. Explore opportunities to incorporate the lived experiences and expertise of Disabled consultants, residents, and/or Disability Rights Commissioners with the support of the Disability Rights and Services Specialist in developing planning strategies that center inclusion in public facilities.

If you have a concern about the accessibility of a City of Madison facility, contact Rebecca Hoyt, Disability Rights and Services Specialist (ADA Coordinator) at RHoyt@cityofmadison.com  or 608-266-6511.

To report a barrier to access related to parks and recreation facilities, contact 408-266-4711 or parks@cityofmadison.com.

For more information see Part II of the  Madison ADA Transition Plan

Public Right of Way

The 2024 Pedestrian Right-Of-Way Accessibility Guidelines PROWAG, was adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation in December 2024. The PROWAG are design guidelines to ensure accessible pedestrian pathways, including crosswalks, curb ramps, street furnishings, pedestrian signals, parking, and other features in public right-of-way. They are required for all new construction and alteration beginning January 17, 2025.

The City of Madison ADA Transition Plan addresses accessibility within public right-of-way. The public right-of-way is the public pedestrian pathway. This portion of the Plan was developed in collaboration with Access to Independence, a local disability-led organization.

We used a variety of methods to evaluate pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way including:

• 1,121 miles of sidewalk
• 149 miles of crosswalks
• 51 miles of pedestrian and shared-use paths
• 2,558 pedestrian-bicycle signals
• 140 Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons (RRFBs)
• 23,785 curb cuts (note: a corner curb cut that serves two crosswalks is counted twice)
• 412 driveway aprons used to access the pedestrian network
• 134 sites with stairs within the pedestrian network
• 1,320 signed bus stops and 44 bus rapid transit (BRT) stations

See maps for more details:

• Pedestrian Facilities (2023)
• Metro Transit Bus Stops (2024)
• Sidewalk Accessibility (October 10, 2024) [RH2] [RH3]
• Sidewalk System (September 20, 2024)

Removing Barriers to Access

The Plan outlines a schedule and estimated cost to remove barriers to access in the public right-of-way over time. The City of Madison will prioritize addressing inaccessible features that are achievable within current resources. Other efforts such as installing additional sidewalks, curb cuts and curb ramps, require long-term planning and further resources. The City considers many factors when developing the Transportation Improvement Plan each year including equity and accessibility needs as well as ongoing input from community members with disabilities and other stakeholders.  It will include the following in its equity priority considerations:

1. Addressing facilities that are not accessible, including those with public complaints
2. Addressing facilities with existing accessibility features that are still receiving public complaints     
3. Focusing on ongoing repairs and remediation to make facilities accessible in accordance with:
   1. Traffic Signals and Street Safety Improvements
   2. Sidewalk and Curb Ramp Repair and Replacement Programs, including private development
4. Prioritizing high-use areas over lower-use areas, and those that connect to public transit

The following barriers to access will be addressed to meet minimum compliance with the applicable PROWAG and other relevant standards.

1. Install accessibility improvements at 10 bus stops within the City of Madison right-of-way by November 30, 2025.
2. Engineering will verify barriers to access related to curb cuts in the public right-of-way by December 31, 2027.
3. The Sidewalk and Curb Ramp Repair and Replacement Programs will complete a full analysis of street reconstructions by 2044. This is needed to install up to 206 compliant curb ramps. The analysis will be included as an addendum to the Plan.
4. Ongoing Traffic Signals and Street Safety Improvements.
5. Ongoing Sidewalk and Curb Ramp Repair and Replacement Programs.

Additional Recommendations

The City of Madison recognizes an accessible and usable sidewalk network must go beyond the built environment. Obstructions related to construction and snow clearance can affect participation in community life and access to essential services and destinations. The City of Madison will continue to work with stakeholders to improve pedestrian access within the public right-of-way for people with disabilities:

1. The City will review and update policies to Improve compliance with existing requirements during temporary construction projects that impact the public right-of-way.
2. Increasing accessibility and useability in the public right-of-way in terms of snow clearance. The City clears snow and ice from bus stops, City-owned sidewalks, school and crosswalks following a weather event. Madison General Ordinance 10.28 requires private sidewalks, curb ramps to crosswalks and driveways to be cleared by noon the day after the snow stops. Seniors and people with disabilities are eligible for extensions and shoveling assistance.

Report a Concern or Request and Improvement

Report sidewalk areas needing repair at Sidewalk Concern or contact Bill McGlynn, Sidewalk Program Supervisor at 608-266-4537 or wmcglynn@cityofmadison.com.

Request safety improvements and report concerns related to the public right-of-way at Request a Safety Improvement or contact Traffic Safety at traffic@cityofmadison.com or 608-266-4761.

Provide feedback about bus stop accessibility for review by the City of Madison Transportation Department and City of Madison Transportation Commission at 608-266-4466 or mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com

Concerns about snow clearance can be reported online.

Many other concerns about the accessibility of the public right-of-way in the City of Madison can be reported through the Report a Problem website.

For more information, see Part III of the  Madison ADA Transition Plan

Employment

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 directed entries that get money from the federal government to make changes to policies and facilities that were needed to overcome the effects of discrimination within three of the Act and to monitor thereafter. The City of Madison is committed to the spirit and intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, and other laws promoting the rights of people with disabilities to enjoy equal opportunity in the workforce.

The City of Madison reviewed its policies and procedures to ensure that employment-related activities do not disadvantage or discriminate against applicants or employees with disabilities. We find that the City of Madison is compliant with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act where employment practices are concerned.

Additionally, we evaluated employee facilities and will take steps to make these facilities accessible and useable to current and future employees with disabilities wherever feasible and within available resources. We welcome and expect that qualified, talented, and skilled people with disabilities will become part of the Madison workforce in all City agencies. We commit to making our facilities accessible wherever possible. Where facilities cannot be made accessible, we will work with current and future employees through the reasonable accommodation process.

We continue to strive to be a model employer for qualified people with disabilities. The full Plan includes recommendations for maintaining and exceeding compliance.

For more information, see Part IV of the Madison ADA Transition Plan.

Grievances and Complaints

Contact the Department of Civil Rights to file a grievance about this plan or if you are a Madison resident, filing a discrimination complaint:

• Online
• In-Person: Department of Civil Rights, 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Room 523, Madison, WI 53703- Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00am – 4:30pm
• Request a form or alternative format: 608-266-4910 or dcr@cityofmadison.com  
• Find a Certified Community Partner near you to help with completing the complaint form.

More information about the Complaint Process, see the Madison ADA Transition Plan.