Sloping Public Walkways
The building code
requires sloping public walk ways that intersect with a stairway to have
no more than a 1 inch per foot
slope. This applies to the top and the bottom of the stairway.
The stair riser can't be higher than 7 inches or lower than 4 inches.
A good example is the picture above, even though I can't measure the
bottom stairway riser, it looks like it's at least 4 inches, even though
it could be more than 7 inches at the right side of the picture. The
slope of the city sidewalk looks like it's close to 1 inch per foot.
What do you do if your public sidewalk exceeds the one in 12 slope?
Contact your local building department to verify the problem and let
them help you solve it. Keep in mind, that most public sidewalks aren't
the responsibility of the Building and Safety Department. You might need
to contact the Public Works the Department.
Painted Stairway Warning Stripe