Is accessible parking aisle part of, or in addition to, assessible path-of-travel

[Yikes]

In the example of the picture below, the striped access aisle that serves the accessible vehicle parking spaces is also doing double-duty as an accessible route from the public right-of-way to the building entrance. Does the California Building Code and ADAS allow this dual purpose?

• I know a CASp that says "no", because ADAS/CBC 11B-502.3 says "access aisle shall adjoin an accessible route", and he interprets "adjoin" to mean that the accessible route is not overlapping the access aisle. Therefore the striped area would need to be 5' for the parking + 4' for the route from the street = total width 9 feet. I suppose part of the reasoning is that a person transferring from their car into a wheelchair might have the chair temporarily blocking some or all of the route width from the street access.
• I say "yes" because the CBC 202 definition of "accessible route" includes this sentence: "Exterior accessible routes may include parking aisles, curb ramps, crosswalks at vehicular areas, walks, ramps and lifts."

What's your opinion?

Follow-up question: can that blue striped are be used for other site circulation purposes, such as rolling out trash bins to the street curb?

 

[arwat23]

I'd say that it's part of an accessible route and can do double-duty. The access aisle IS part of an accessible route (CBC 202), and I don't know of anything in code that would prevent an access aisle from performing double-duty (depends on the design though... what you show seems fine). I've had jurisdictions demand, rightfully so imo, that when CBC 11B-202.4 exception 8 is triggered and providing an "accessible entrance" (item #1) is required, the route from the accessible parking space is included in that. Not "from the aisle", but "from the space".

Let's look at the definition of "adjoin". "to add or attach by joining" or "to lie next to or in contact with". Looking at CBC 202, an access aisle is part of an accessible route. So, the aisle needs to be connected to an accessible route (check) and it's part of an accessible route by CBC 202 (check).

"The blue striped area" meaning the access aisle or the pedestrian walkway? If the latter, I don't see why not. Unless you block the accessible route, a route is a route and can be used for most regular purposes.