Is this city expenditure a necessity? (neighborhood, tax, cost of)

[hapaleeretired]

When our addition was built all of the street corners were built with handicap accessible curbs. Recently the city has come in and rebuilt the majority of the corners. When I asked one of the workers said they "were bringing the corners up to code". They've got the red mats which seem more difficult to traverse than the original. And there is cement raised edging on the sides to trip over. Also, the edging makes it impossible to run the lawnmowers over. Now, each curb has to be trimmed.
Each curb necessitated the replacement of 5-7 sections of sidewalk.
I can not imagine the cost of each corner.
Can someone explain to me the reason we're spending all these tax dollars for something, at least in my uneducated mind, didn't need fixing.
The aftermath of this undertaking has been sitting unattended for weeks now and the street on which they are located is like driving on the moon.

[rrah]

You've given no indication of how long ago the original walks were built. I'm guessing you're not in a wheelchair or don't use a mobility device. If you were, I don't think you would consider it unnecessary. Engineering evolves to make things safer and easier for those with mobility issues.

The red mats are required. It's called a detectable warning surface. I imagine it serves 2 purposes: it prevents those in a wheelchair from rolling into the street and for those with vision disabilities, the change in texture is a warning that they are about to enter a road. Yes, some type of edging is normal in some instances.

https://www.in.gov/dot/div/contracts...CTION%2022.pdf

[sheerbliss]

Originally Posted by hapaleeretired

Also, the edging makes it impossible to run the lawnmowers over. Now, each curb has to be trimmed.

We have the tactile paving in my neighborhood, but I'm not familiar with the edging. There's a place where I have to push my mower over the sidewalk; I've never had any trouble.

My only complaint about the paving is that it's hard to shovel when it snows.