Make D.C.'s sidewalks more accessible with this crowd-sourced map

Despite progress since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, navigating cities can still be difficult for those with mobility impairments. With Census data, Mobility Lab reported that 30.6 million Americans older than 15 live with mobility impairments.

In order to improve conditions in Washington, D.C. for those with mobility impairments, a team at the University of Maryland is crowdsourcing a map of sidewalk impediments. The Walk Score-inspired map, called Project Sidewalk, allows the public to catalog and rate the accessibility of sidewalks and curb ramps and any obstacles like fire hydrants or crumbling pavement.

Currently, there are 64,000 labels and 463 miles of D.C. roads covered. With the goal to cover 100 percent of the District, there are plans to teach the program to identify problem spots on its own and communicate with relevant government entities tasked with fixing them.

For now, while the map requires assistance from the public, feel free to give the interactive map a whirl here.

• University of Maryland project looks to crowdsource an accessibility map of DC’s sidewalks [Mobility Lab]