ADA Parking Lot Striping
In Durham, NC

ADA Parking Lot Striping in Durham, NC

Accessible parking is the one part of a parking lot where getting it approximately right is the same as getting it wrong. A space that is four inches too narrow, an access aisle that slopes a little too much, a sign mounted a little too low — each is a finished, painted, expensive-looking failure.

The federal rules are the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. North Carolina layers its own building code and a state statute on top. We install and restripe accessible spaces, access aisles, ISA symbols, and the markings that go with them on commercial property across Durham, Orange, Alamance, and Wake counties, and every number on this page is quoted from the standard that sets it.

How Many Accessible Spaces Your Lot Needs

Section 208.2 of the 2010 Standards sets a table, not a percentage, until your lot gets large:

Total spaces in the parking facility	Minimum accessible spaces required
1 to 25	1
26 to 50	2
51 to 75	3
76 to 100	4
101 to 150	5
151 to 200	6
201 to 300	7
301 to 400	8
401 to 500	9
501 to 1000	2 percent of total
1001 and over	20, plus 1 for each 100, or fraction thereof, over 1000

One rule catches multi-building sites: where a site has more than one parking facility, the count is calculated per facility, not across the site. Three lots of twenty spaces each need three accessible spaces, not one.

Van-Accessible Spaces

Section 208.2.4: *”For every six or fraction of six parking spaces required by 208.2 to comply with 502, at least one shall be a van parking space.”*

Read the phrase *”or fraction of six.”* A lot with one required accessible space needs that space to be van-accessible — one is a fraction of six. A lot with seven required accessible spaces needs two van spaces, not one. This is the single most common counting error we find on existing lots.

Space and Access-Aisle Dimensions

• Car space: 96 inches wide minimum. Van space: 132 inches wide minimum — *or* 96 inches minimum where the access aisle is itself 96 inches minimum (§502.2).
• Access aisle: 60 inches wide minimum, and it must extend the full length of the space it serves (§502.3.1, §502.3.2).
• Location: an access aisle must not overlap the vehicular way. It may sit on either side of the space — except at angled van spaces, where it must be on the passenger side (§502.3.4).
• Sharing: two parking spaces may share one common access aisle (§502.3).

And a measurement rule almost nobody publishes. Section 502.1: *”Where parking spaces are marked with lines, width measurements of parking spaces and access aisles shall be made from the centerline of the markings.”* Measured curb-to-curb instead of centerline-to-centerline, a compliant space reads as non-compliant and a non-compliant one can read as fine. This is where disagreements between a striper and an inspector usually start.

Slope, Surface, and Marking Requirements

Section 502.4: changes in level are not permitted in an accessible space or its access aisle. The only exception is a slope not steeper than 1:48 — in all directions, not just across the drive. That is a shade over two percent, and it is why an accessible space cannot be located wherever there is room.

Section 502.3.3 requires access aisles to be *”marked so as to discourage parking in them.”* Then the standard’s own advisory adds something surprising: *”The method and color of marking are not specified by these requirements but may be addressed by State or local laws or regulations.”*

So the diagonal blue hatching everyone recognises is convention, not a federal requirement — the federal duty is that the aisle be marked so people do not park in it. What the marking looks like is a state and local question, which in North Carolina means the state statute and the state building code, below.

Required Signage

Section 502.6 requires that parking space identification signs include the International Symbol of Accessibility, that signs identifying van spaces carry the designation *”van accessible,”* and that signs be 60 inches minimum above the finish floor or ground, measured to the bottom of the sign.

We mark pavement. We do not fabricate or install signs, and 1-800-STRIPER of Durham does not offer sign installation as a service. Section 502.6 is here because you cannot plan compliant accessible parking without knowing the sign rule, and because the ISA symbol we paint on the pavement is not a substitute for the sign the standard requires.

North Carolina Requirements Beyond the ADA

Three layers sit above the federal standard here, and the second one is the reason Durham lots fail in ways lots in other states do not.

The North Carolina State Building Code, Chapter 11 (Accessibility) is the state’s adopted accessibility code, based on the International Building Code with North Carolina amendments and referencing ICC A117.1. It is the code an NC inspector reads.

N.C.G.S. § 20-37.6 governs accessible parking designation statewide, and two of its provisions are worth knowing:

• The statute states that a parking space designated for handicapped persons *”includes clearly marked access aisles,”* and that all provisions, restrictions, and penalties that apply to the space apply to the access aisles too. In North Carolina the access aisle is legally part of the designated space. Striping it wrong is not a cosmetic failure.
• A sign designating an accessible space *”shall state the maximum penalty”* for parking there unlawfully, and it is unlawful for those responsible for designating spaces to erect signs that do not conform. A nonconforming sign is itself an infraction, attributable to the property owner.

The statute is enforced *”whether on public or private property.”*

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. North Carolina’s statutes route the appearance of these signs to the federal manual rather than defining it themselves. That is why an accessible-parking sign on a Durham commercial lot is not a free design choice.