sidewalk ramps

in our old neighborhood in san leandro the sidewalks had these funky transitions from the street. the edge of the sidewalk rolled down at a sharp angle. this must have been before the practice of adding driveway ramps was common. not a big deal when you're pulling in with an old car that has a lot of ground clearance, but most newer cars tended to scrape a tailpipe or other part on the way in. we learned to avoid this by slowly pulling in at an angle, however i began to notice that quite a few people in the neighborhood had created their own sidewalk ramps. i started walking around to see how many i could locate and was fascinated at the different approaches people took. they say design arises out of a need, and here are some examples of a little yankee ingenuity addressing the need.