A Trail Rating System for People with Disabilities

Our Trail Rating System

Federal Accessibility Standards

We reference Universal Access (UA) standards across this site when describing all Shared Use Paths and Universal Access (UA) Trails. These are based on the summary provided in Trails for All People (see right), with specific page references. These guidelines review issues related to accessibility on these paths and trails. This is especially useful for those responsible for designing paths, because of the different regulations that apply under different circumstances. The summaries offered below are intended to quickly orient users to general principles. Readers are encouraged to review the manual while those seeking to build Shared Use Paths or UA trails MUST rely on experienced trail designers and builders.

Our Ratings are based on the specific features referenced in the UA standards: Running Grade, Cross-Grade, Width, Surface, and Obstacles. A path that

Meets these standards is rated as A
Falls just short of these standards is rated as A-
Exceeds these standards is rated as B.
Significantly exceeds these standards is rated as C.

Existing Trail difficulty ratings often do not work for walkers with mobility challenges

Some rating systems span a very wide range of difficulty, and do not offer finer distinctions important to those with mobility challenges. Other rating systems not only span a very wide range of lengths, but they also confound length (Effort) and difficulty (Stress).

In the 5 point system described by the National Park Service, Level 5 includes hikes 5-8 miles long with steep inclines that would be "challenging for an unconditioned person".
The system used in Australia's parks (see right) also addresses whether wayfinding skills may be needed.

Other ratings like those adopted by Pennsylvania (p. 12) and pictured to the right include more descriptors relevant to those with mobility challenges but may still be too vague.

Many systems also ignore the kinds of paths found in local parks, which can be so helpful for people with disabilities who just want to Get Moving.

Our Trail Rating System for People with Disabilities

Helping to Build the Fitness, Skills, and Confidence needed to reach our Goals

Our approach to trail rating is based on 3 principles

People with disabilities have different levels of skills depending on their particular disability.
Their fitness, skills, and confidence can grow with experience.
They will chose a trail not only based on their fitness, skills, and experience, but also on their goals.

We therefore need a trail rating system that allows people with disabilities to choose a path or trail based on their own particular level of fitness, skills, and confidence, so that they can set and meet goals to increase these.

Fitness and Trail Effort

The level of fitness required to complete a walk - the Effort - is determined by the length of the walk, and the types of Running Grades (e.g., slopes) they encounter.

Effort is based on the length of the trail and the types of slopes encountered, and so is easier to reliably predict

A trail that is twice as long probably takes twice the amount of effort to complete.
Trails may also require increased effort depending on the length of the sloped section(s) AND the significance of grades, though the specific increase in effort required is surprisingly hard to assess
This relationship between the trail effort and the level of fitness required is likely true regardless of a person's disability.
We can confidently set goals to increase fitness by choosing trails based on their length and (to a less degree) on the types of grades they encounter.

The specific criteria for different ratings of Running Grade are detailed elsewhere

Skill and Trail Stress / Barriers

The Stress experienced and Barriers encountered while walking a path depend on the skills needed to navigate its Cross-Grades, Width, Surface, and Obstacles. These determine whether a path or trail is accessible.

A Trail Barrier is a feature that a person with a disability cannot overcome (or only with great difficulty)

Example: A wheelchair user faced with stairs.
Barriers prevent a person from continuing their walk.

A Trail Stressor is a feature that a person with a disability finds difficult to navigate

Example: A 3" high rock that a person with low vision must take care to step around.
Stressors make a walk less comfortable, and enough stressors may make a walk so uncomfortable that they do not complete it or never return to it.

Whereas the relationship between Effort/Fitness and Length/Running Grade is likely similar for many of those with and without disabilities, the experience of Trail Stress varies greatly from one person to another, depending upon on the person's disability.

Our systems includes separate ratings for each of the features referenced in the UA standards (Cross-Grade, Width, Surface, and Obstacles), and are detailed elsewhere

By characterizing some trail features as stressors, and the skills needed to navigate them, we begin to see how some people with disabilities may set goals to build their skills and thus access trails that exceed UA standards.

Simple, reliable, and meaningful ratings

help people with disabilities become more confident in choosing a trail that is just right for them.

Our rating system is anchored in features recognized as important to people with disabilities (e.g., Running & Cross-Grades, Width, Surface, and Obstacles).

Most of the features referenced here are are also simple and reliable - e.g., we can readily agree on the trail's width
The standard for accessibility here is meaningful - e.g., an A Rating is the baseline recognized as facilitating access for all users.

Ratings guide the development of goals supporting incremental improvement for people with disabilities

Goals related to fitness (Get Moving and Get Fit) requires choosing paths that are longer and/or have steeper grades but with Stress rated A- or better.
A goal of Building Skills requires increasing the Stress in specific features of interest from A to A- to B.

Rating system ties into other elements of our Outdoor Access Guide

Ratings align with range of paths and trails
Progressive Access,
other Accessibility Features, related Training

Other Sources of Confusion

Trail builders must comply with federal accessibility standards only "to the extent practicable"

In practice, this means that Multi-Use and Walking Paths are permitted to exceed allowable grades because of the terrain, like in the example listed below. When only local or private funds to build these paths and trails have no obligation to adhere to accessibility standards. In practice, the high cost of multi-use paths means that states, counties, and municipalities must rely on federal dollars (including pass-through grants to states and counties), and so they must strive to comply with these standards.

CASE STUDY The descent from Alapocas Drive into Brandywine Park in the westernmost section of the Northern Delaware Greenway includes more than 160' of difficult downhill grades (up to 20%) that would make this uncomfortable for many cyclists and all but the most experienced wheelchair users. You can see this in the grades to the left, with each dot marking a 10' section, and dark blue indicating difficult downhill grades. Like many shared use paths, no resting intervals are provided.

A trail meeting accessibility standards is not always an easy one

A trail does not have to be uniformly flat to meet UA standards. A path with Running Grades rated as A can have uphill section of any length as long as these do not exceed 5%. It can have uphill sections of 5-8.33% for up to 30', and uphill sections of 8.33-10% for up to 10'. And it can have any number of these as long as there are resting intervals in between. These can all increase Trail Effort.

Even a path with Running Grades rated as A+ can require effort! This beautiful 600' boardwalk section of the Jack Markell Trail complies with standards for shared use paths because it never exceeds a 5% grade. Nonetheless, its length would make it difficult - and potentially stressful - for less experienced or fit users.

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