WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Wheelchair bound Columbia man still waiting on sidewalk improvements

Wheelchair bound Columbia man still waiting on sidewalk improvements

(Columbia) Feb. 4, 2004 - It was back in November when Ron Rutledge showed WIS News 10 how scary traveling in Columbia can be for people in wheelchairs.

He was rolling through town and attempted to leave the sidewalk. There wasn't a cutaway on the curb to street-level and he took a tumble. Several passersby helped him back into his chair.

WIS News 10 showed the curbs to Jim Cagney with the state Department of Transportation and he vowed to fix it, "This automatically gets moved to the top of the list and we're going to address safety issues first and foremost."

It's been three months and Rutledge and other people who travel the route want to know why nothing has been done. Cagney explained, "We did make it a top priority. We had to identify the quantity, set up the contract and work it through the procurement process to get to this point and it does take that much time."

Rutledge says he doesn't buy that explanation.

Cagney even went so far as to generally identify a date, "We expect the contractor to start on Huger Street in the next three, four weeks and it will take him, weather permitting, roughly a month, month and a half to finish the work we have out here."

Cagney says the DOT also plans to fix or replace ramps on Sumter Street between Elmwood and Gervais and Bull Street. WIS News 10 will follow up on these projects to check on the progress.

By Kara Gormley
Posted 7:14pm by BrettWitt