Disability Access for Hopkins Should Not Be an Afterthought

By Helen Walsh

Hopkins Street in Berkeley is a place where people live, shop, gather, and recreate. Seniors, disabled people, families, and children call it home. They rely on Monterey Market, King Pool, the library, and nearby parks. Paratransit vehicles and wheelchair vans serve residents every day, making predictable curb access a daily necessity. Mail carriers need safe drop-off zones, and unattended micro mobility devices frequently block curb cuts. Consistent curb access is not a convenience. It is a safety requirement under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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The pavement on Hopkins compounds the problem. The street has not been repaved in years. Cracked asphalt and broken sidewalk edges make travel difficult for wheelchair users and blind pedestrians. Adding new design complexity onto a failing street without centering accessibility creates more barriers. Repaving must come first, guided by a rigorous accessibility analysis evaluating how disabled residents navigate the corridor.

The deeper issue is that no such analysis was conducted during the initial planning stage. The City moved forward with design concepts, bikeway alignments, and curbside changes without one. A predetermined Class IV bike lane design is now shaping everything: separated bike facilities placed between parking and the sidewalk, floating bus stops, and mid-block crossings. When a design is built around other priorities, accessibility gets fit in around the edges. Once built, these choices become fixed barriers that are difficult and costly to undo.

Berkeley is the historic home of the disability rights movement. Ed Roberts and the Rolling Quads changed the world here. Curb cuts began as a disability access solution and became something everyone uses—seniors, parents with strollers, travelers with suitcases. Universal design benefits the whole community and strengthens safety for all.

Today, public conversation about Hopkins focuses on slowing cars and improving bicycle safety. Those goals matter, but safety for disabled people, blind residents, paratransit riders, and wheelchair van users must be part of the equation. If the City cannot maintain reliable crossings now, adding infrastructural complexity without centering accessibility will make conditions more dangerous for those who already face the greatest barriers.

Berkeley is not alone in this. Redesigning public rights-of-way without initial accessibility analyses is causing friction nationwide. In New York, disabled residents filed federal civil rights lawsuits arguing that protected bike lanes and floating bus stops block curbside access and violate the ADA. Similar issues have surfaced in San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles. When accessibility is not evaluated early, separated facilities create obstacles that often require expensive retrofits.

On Hopkins, seniors and disabled residents need short-distance loading that does not require crossing a bikeway to reach the sidewalk. Faith communities face similar challenges. Evangel Bible Church relies on curbside access for elderly and disabled congregants. Berkeley already knows the consequences of skipping an analysis: First Congregational Church Berkeley lost its vital drop-off zone on Dana Street after separated bike facilities were installed. Hopkins cannot repeat that mistake.

While Berkeley has not formally adopted the Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG), these standards still apply under ADA Title II as the federal benchmark for streets and sidewalks. Title II requires cities to maintain accessible features and evaluate infrastructure changes through an accessibility lens. A street redesign is a public program, and it must remain accessible.

Hopkins deserves a redesign that reflects the entire community. That begins with an accessibility analysis at the planning stage. These fundamental questions are the blueprint for a street that works for everyone. If it's not accessible, it's not complete.

Helen Walsh, Berkeley CA

Helen Walsh is an Advocate in Action whose work centers disability justice, accessible public space, and community safety. She serves on the Berkeley Commission on Disability, where her focus includes ADA Title II program access, accessibility of the public right of way, and ensuring that public information and digital content are accessible to all community members. She has advised local partners on street and sidewalk access. Her work is shaped by lived experience and collaborative problem solving, dignity, and collective care.

See also: Beyond the Bike Lane