Vanguard ADA Systems History

Four years ago, as president of road-materials company TILCO Vanguard, Jon Julnes took seven people, all with disabilities, to a large grocery in Kirkland to get opinions on a pedestrian-access ramp. The ramp met the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility guidelines, but, Julnes learned, the guidelines fell short.

“The ramp didn’t seem steep to me, but a woman with cerebral palsy said that for her it was like climbing Mount Rainier,” Julnes said. That realization shaped much of TILCO Vanguard’s work today: making and installing accessibility products such as truncated domes, which help people with visual impairments detect the boundary between sidewalk and street.

The domes are raised plastic dots, barely an inch in diameter and less than half an inch tall, arranged in patterns of 30 to 35 dots per square foot, in crosswalks and on curb ramps and transit platforms. “These are cues to make these people feel more secure about going out and feel more confident,” Julnes said. “It’s like Braille for the feet, which tells them, `This is a safe place for you to be.’ “

Julnes’ business venture started as The Indelible Line Co. (TILCO), a parking-lot striping and paving outfit, in 1976. Over time, TILCO took on other projects, and after the passage of the ADA in 1990, helped install other companies’ accessibility products — other cues for the visually impaired, such as plastic tiles on curbs — and experimented with its own versions. TILCO created a division, named Vanguard ADA Systems of America, and later renamed the company TILCO Vanguard.

In 1993, after looking at other types of truncated domes elsewhere, Julnes designed one of liquid plastic with glass beads, a skid-resistant, light-reflective version that can last up to six years. The company’s domes are at more than 50 sites around the Puget Sound, including Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland.

Today, TILCO Vanguard is a private company based in Maltby [Snohomish, WA] with 14 employees. Julnes wouldn’t disclose sales figures. In the next three years, he plans to install Vanguard products in all 50 states by selling licenses to other companies. And with the aging American population, he thinks visual and mobility cues like his products will have even more applications. “Twenty years ago, very few cities had ramps on their sidewalks,” Julnes said. “Today, you wouldn’t build a sidewalk without ramps. “The domes were installed recently outside Evergreen’s Surgery and Professional Center.

Evergreen construction manager David True said the hospital chose them in part for their visibility. “They’re impossible to miss –they’re bright yellow,” he said. The hospital will continue to monitor the effectiveness and safety of the domes, True said. The state Building Code Council is preparing to hold public hearings early next year to review accessibility rules and determine if a specific kind of product should be mandated. There may be a proposal to reconfigure the truncated domes, said Tim Nogler, managing director of the state council, so that they do not pose a hazard to people with other disabilities, such as those who use wheelchairs. “Our goal is to be current with the ADA guidelines and be consistent with what is being done on the national level,” he said.

Seattle Times, The (WA)
Date: September 25, 2002
Page: H11
Copyright (c) 2002 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.