Baltimore has reached an initial $44 million settlement to start closing out a yearslong legal battle alleging that sidewalks, crosswalks and footpaths were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The settlement is part of a “partial consent decree” which requires the city to upgrade its sidewalks and curb ramps, according to a news release. As part of the deal, the city agreed to create a program overseen by Baltimore’s Department of Transportation dedicated to pedestrian accessibility.

The settlement, which must still be approved by the city’s spending board, requires Baltimore to pay $44 million for upgrades over the next four years, including $8 million in the current budget year and $12 million for each of the three years after.

Baltimore officials have been bracing for the eventual cost of sidewalk upgrades since the lawsuit was filed in 2021. Officials once estimated that it would cost a staggering $657 million to make the city’s pedestrian system ADA compliant. In 2021, city transportation officials wrote that 98% of public curb ramps and median treatments, 66% of sidewalk miles, 80% of driveway aprons, 16% of crosswalks and 33% of pedestrian signals did not comply with ADA standards.

Gabriel Rubinstein, managing attorney for Disability Rights Maryland, the advocacy group that filed the class-action complaint against the city, applauded the settlement.

“This partial consent decree puts in place the programs to ensure that Baltimore finally lives up to the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so that people with mobility disabilities can navigate around the City of Baltimore just as safely and to the same extent as everyone else,” he said.

Other cities who have faced similar lawsuits have also faced massive settlements. Los Angeles agreed to pay an estimated $1.4 billion over 30 years for sidewalk repairs.

The $44 million price tag announced Thursday pales in comparison to anticipated expenses, but city officials said the cost represents only the first step in the settlement. Additional investments will be negotiated as the end of the current agreement’s term expires in 2028, officials said.

The city may also be required to invest more money in the first four years of the agreement — up to $6 million — if the city receives a boost in state money for sidewalk improvements, according to the Board of Estimates agenda.

“As with every deeply-entrenched problem, achieving this goal will not happen overnight, and it will ultimately cost far more than $44 million included in this settlement,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a news release.

“We are committed to taking every action necessary to set the City on track to come into compliance with the ADA, and ensure Baltimore is more accessible to our disabled community than ever before,” Scott added.

About 533 ramps are slated to be improved in the first year of the settlement and 740 will be upgraded annually in each of the three following years, according to the spending board agenda. Baltimore has also agreed to appointing an ADA coordinator and implementing inspection and maintenance programs for pedestrian paths.

The Board of Estimates is expected to vote on the settlement next week.

Banner reporter Hallie Miller contributed to this article.