Brick Sidewalks with Detectable Warnings in Historic Annapolis
Dona Sauerburger

This page shares examples of detectable warnings in historic areas of Annapolis, Maryland. The photos were taken in 2011 in response to concern from planners in several historical U. S. jurisdictions about how to comply with the Federal laws requiring detectable warnings at curbramps.

The first photos show a brick crosswalk on West Street where it intersects Church Circle, a street surrounding St. Anne's Church which was built in 1858.

Church Circle: Three photos show a brick crosswalk at a signalized intersection. The sidewalks are all made of red brick, and at the curb the bricks are laid to form a slope about 4 feet wide down to the street. Where it meets the street is a detectable warning (DW) about 2 feet deep and 4 feet wide. The bright yellow surface of the DW has peeled back or eroded at the top of one of the ramps revealing a few inches of white cement.

Next are photos taken just a block from Church Circle, showing the sidewalk in front of the Maryland State Capitol Building where George Washington resigned his commission to the Continental Congress in 1783 -- the room where this happened has been preserved and is being renovated to display a reenactment of the event. To the right of the stairway is a brick ramp leading up to the patio area at the top of the stairs.

Capitol: Three photos show a sidewalk in front of a wide stairway with a retaining wall about 4 feet high on each side of the stairs. The street, sidewalk, wall stairs, and ramp going around the stairs are all made of red brick. The brick slopes down to the street to form a curbramp about 4 feet wide. The detectable warning is made out of two rows of 4 white cement tiles which are each about a foot square with 64 truncated domes (6 on each side of the tile).

The following show examples at intersections in the historic residential area a block or two away from Church Circle. Many homes in this community are 100-150 years old.

Residential: Four photos show an intersection of a 2-lane street and a 3-lane street with a two-story brick home with a small covered porch on one corner, a two-story wooden house on the other, and a large brick church on the third corner. The streets are paved with concrete, and all 4 corners have red brick sidewalks whose curbramps have detectable warning made of two rows of one-foot-square white cement tiles each having 6 rows of 6 truncated domes.

Photo shows a curbramp where the sidewalk is made of red bricks but the sidewalk nearby as well as the street are made of concrete. Two rows of 4 one-foot-square concrete detectable warning tiles are placed along the edge of the curbramp.

Photo shows a two-story yellow house at a corner with brick sidewalk that has a curbramp with white cement detectable warnings.

The entrance to this parking garage has examples of detectable warnings that contrast yet harmonize with surrounding brick colors. The last photo of this series shows the corner to the left of the parking garage.

Garage entrance: Five photos show a brick driveway entering a parking garage, with salmon-colored brick sidewalks on each side of the driveway (about 15 feet from each side of the driveway, the sidewalk changes to red brick). Each side of the driveway has a curbramp near the bottom of the driveway facing diagonally toward the street. Each curbramp has a rectangle of red bricks outlined with orange brics -- the rectangle is about 4 feet wide at the bottom of the curbramp and extends into the sidewalk about 8 feet. The bottom 2 feet of this rectangle is made with white concrete detectable warning (2 rows of one-foot-wide square tiles each with 6 rows of 6 truncated domes).

Photo shows a corner of an intersection of two 2-lane streets made of concrete; the sidewalk and the 3-story building at the corner are made of red brick. The bricks slope to form a curbramp at the apex of the corner, with white cement detectable warning surface at the bottom. A row of orange-colored bricks draws a rectangle that is about 4 feet wide at the bottom of the ramp and extends about 8 feet into the sidewalk.

Photo shows two brick streets intersecting at an angle of about 30 degrees, forming a very acute corner. The sidewalk is made out of brick, and slopes gently down to the street at the apex of the corner, with about 4 feet of the edge of the sidewalk being flush with the street.

Lastly, an example of a BAD installation on Main Street, which is in the center of Annapolis. Main Street goes from Church Circle (you can see the steeple of St. Anne's Church at the top of the hill) down to the little harbor just a few blocks away.

This photo shows an intersection on Main Street which was renovated a few years ago. Initially, no detectable warning was installed. The brick of the sidewalk blended into the brick of the street and there was no abrupt change in the slope of the curbramp, making it nearly impossible for blind travelers who walked in the curbramp to recognize when they were entering the street.

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