Chicago Judge Orders Thousands of Accessible Ped Signals

A federal court has ordered Chicago to equip at least 71 percent of its signalized pedestrian crossings with accessible pedestrian signals (APS) within the next 10 years, a major victory for blind and low-vision pedestrians. “Chicago will then have another 5 years to install APS at all remaining signalized intersections, unless it can show that blind pedestrians already have meaningful access to the pedestrian grid.”

The ruling is the result of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of the American Council of the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago and three individual plaintiffs, which charged the city with discriminatory practices. “The federal Department of Justice joined the suit shortly after it was filed following its own investigation into the City’s APS-related policies and practices.”

When the suit was filed in 2019, less than half of one percent of the 2,800 signalized crossings in the city had APS technology. Today, that number has risen to just 3 percent. The court is also requiring the city to establish an APS compliance and maintenance program and create an APS Community Advisory Committee.

Plaintiff Ann Brash praised the decision saying, “This will go a long way toward ensuring that all blind pedestrians can safely cross Chicago streets.”