Travel access checklist

The U.S. Access Board ADA standards say a door opening on an accessible route provides a clear width of 32 inches minimum. For a swinging door, measure between the face of the door and the stop, with the door open 90 degrees. An opening more than 24 inches deep needs a clear opening of 36 inches minimum. Nothing may stick into that clear width below 34 inches above the floor.

A door that looks wide when it is closed can be too narrow once the door itself is in the opening. Ask for the clear width, not the catalog width of the slab.

The ADA standards for guest rooms with mobility features require clear floor space on both sides of a bed, lined up for a side approach. If two beds have one clear space between them, space is not required on both outer sides. The standards do not set a bed height. The Justice Department has said the standards do not address hotel bed height, and that silence is not a pass to ignore a guest who cannot get onto the bed.

Ask for the height in inches from the floor to the top of the mattress, and ask if the bed can be lowered. This page does not invent a correct height, because the standards do not print one.

A standard roll-in shower in the ADA standards is 30 inches wide minimum by 60 inches deep minimum, with an entry 60 inches wide on the open face. An alternate roll-in shower is 36 inches wide and 60 inches deep minimum, with a 36 inch entry at one end of the long side. Ask if there is a curb, a seat, and a hose you can reach from the seat.

The Access Board says turning space is required in toilet and bathing rooms and in transient lodging guest rooms. A circular turning space is 60 inches in diameter minimum. A T-shaped space is also allowed. Ask if a wheelchair can turn without backing the length of the room. Doors may swing into the turning space. They may not swing into some fixture clearances in a bathroom.

These standards apply where the ADA requires an accessible route, an accessible bathroom, or a guest room with mobility features. A house rented for a few nights may not have been built to them. Ask anyway, and ask which room you will get. A photo is not a measurement.

Print this page and read the checklist on the phone. Write the answers next to each line, with the name of the person who answered and the date.