A milestone settlement agreement between Baltimore City and a class of pedestrians with mobility disabilities will now go into effect, after the U.S. District Court of Maryland gave its approval on March 31, 2025. Most of the city’s sidewalks and curb ramps will soon become more accessible to people with mobility disabilities as a result.
The settlement comes in the form of a partial consent decree, the first step towards resolving claims alleging that the vast majority of curb ramps and sidewalks in Baltimore City are not accessible for people with mobility disabilities, thus violating federal disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”).
The city has agreed to devote a minimum of $44 million (potentially up to $50 million) over four years to the construction and/or remediation of thousands of its curb ramps and the remediation of tens of thousands of square feet of its sidewalks. The partial consent decree also requires Baltimore to stay in compliance with the ADA and Section 504, to create new programs for increasing sidewalk accessibility to those with mobility disabilities, and to improve its 311 system for requests and complaints related to the accessibility of specific intersections and sidewalks.
“This partial consent decree puts in place the programs to ensure that Baltimore finally lives up to the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so that people with mobility disabilities can navigate around the City of Baltimore just as safely and to the same extent as everyone else,” said Madeleine Reichman, Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates.
When the partial consent decree is in its third year, the parties will begin negotiating a longer-term plan for making the city’s remaining curb ramps and sidewalks accessible to people with mobility disabilities.
“Years of advocacy have led to this milestone toward a more accessible Baltimore. We’re grateful to have partnered with the IMAGE Center, the Baltimore area’s Center for Independent Living, our three named plaintiffs, and community members to make it possible, and we look forward to working with the City to ensure the obligations of the decree are met and that progress toward full accessibility continues,” said Gabriel Rubinstein, Managing Attorney at Disability Rights Maryland.
