A federal judge on Monday ordered New York City to install crosswalk signs to help blind and partially sighted people at more than 9,000 intersections over the next 10 years.
Federal District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s decision in Manhattan came more than a year after he ruled that most crosswalks in the city violate laws that protect people with disabilities, because they only report crossing information at a visual format.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit corporation that represents people with visual impairments.
In last year’s ruling, Engelmayer said the city had not fully installed crosswalk signs to assist the blind and visually impaired at nearly 97% of the city’s 13,200 intersections with pedestrian signals.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys had proposed that the city add such signs at all intersections that currently have visual only signs within 10 years. But city officials said they could only install them at 500 intersections per year, a limit rejected by the judge.
The judge said installing the signs at more than 9,000 intersections would cost just under $ 672 million, according to city estimates.
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