How Los Angeles Is Using HLA To Avoid Fixing Sidewalks Under The ADA

If it feels like Los Angeles has stopped repaving streets and fixing sidewalks, you’re not imagining it. Since Measure HLA (Healthy Streets LA) passed, the City has been quietly changing how it does street work in ways that also delay long‑overdue ADA sidewalk and curb ramp upgrades. In practice, this strategy keeps many sidewalks out of compliance even though federal law already requires accessible routes.

Let’s break down what’s going on in plain language.

Quick primer: what ADA and HLA actually require

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), when a city alters a street—by resurfacing it, not just filling potholes—it has to provide compliant curb ramps anywhere sidewalks cross that street. The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Transportation issued joint guidance in 2013 that spells it out clearly:

“Because resurfacing of streets constitutes an alteration under the ADA, it triggers the obligation to provide curb ramps where pedestrian walkways intersect the resurfaced streets.”

That means: real resurfacing → legal duty to install or upgrade curb ramps at corners and crossings.

Measure HLA sits on top of this. HLA requires Los Angeles to implement its already‑adopted Mobility Plan 2035 whenever it repaves at least 1/8 mile of street or does equivalent “major” street work. Those Mobility Plan improvements include things like better crosswalks, curb ramps, wider sidewalks in some areas, and other changes that are directly tied to accessibility.

So in theory, one repaving project should do both:

• Meet ADA obligations (curb ramps and accessible crossings), and

• Meet HLA obligations (Mobility Plan features like safer walking, biking, and transit facilities).

The City’s workaround: stop “resurfacing” and rename the work

Here’s where things get slippery: Los Angeles has, in large part, stopped doing traditional “resurfacing” and instead shifted to something it calls “large asphalt repair.”

Advocates and reporters have found that:

• Since July 2025, the city resurfacing program shows essentially no completed resurfacing, even though crews are still out using the same equipment on the same streets.

• Instead of resurfacing the whole width of a block, the City leaves strips of old asphalt in place so it can argue the job is not a full overlay from intersection to intersection.

Why does this matter legally?

The ADA guidance draws a line between alterations and maintenance:

• Alteration (triggers curb ramps): adding a new layer of asphalt, concrete pavement reconstruction, micro‑surfacing, thin overlays, in‑place asphalt recycling, cape seals, etc., from one intersection to another.

• Maintenance (does not trigger curb ramps): crack sealing, slurry seals, chip seals, fog seals, simple patching, and basic striping that don’t “significantly affect the public’s access to or usability of the road.”

By only partially resurfacing, and by labeling that work as “large asphalt repair” instead of resurfacing, LA is trying to fit under the “maintenance” category where ADA curb ramp triggers are weaker. At the same time, because HLA is written around repaving and major modifications of at least 1/8 mile, the City can also claim that HLA’s requirements do not apply to these smaller, broken‑up jobs.

In other words, the classification game does double duty: avoid ADA curb ramp triggers and avoid HLA complete‑street triggers.

What this means for sidewalks and curb ramps

The practical result is simple and frustrating:

• The City keeps using public money on “maintenance‑sized” projects that do not fix missing curb ramps or broken sidewalks in a systematic way.

• Each time LA chooses large patch work instead of true resurfacing, it sidesteps the clear ADA requirement to install curb ramps along that whole stretch.

• Because HLA is tied to repaving and other major street modifications, those “big opportunity” moments to install Mobility Plan pedestrian improvements—wider sidewalks in key districts, better crossings, accessible curb ramps—get pushed further into the future.

Studies and advocacy analyses estimate that the City already faces an enormous backlog—on the order of billions of dollars—in basic street and access ramp work. By cutting back on full resurfacing, that backlog doesn’t shrink; it grows, because older, non‑compliant sidewalks and ramps are left in place while traffic and weather keep wearing them down.

From a disability‑rights standpoint, the core problem is not just aesthetics or ride quality. It’s that people using wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and strollers are forced to navigate:

• Corners without curb ramps at all,

• Ramps that are too steep, warped, or severely cracked, and

• Sidewalks that tilt, crumble, or disappear entirely.

The law says those barriers should be corrected when real resurfacing happens. The City’s strategy appears to avoid creating projects that count as real resurfacing in the first place.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney or consultant for advice tailored to your situation.