A Sorry Picture of Hemenway Street

Posted by John B. Kelly

All Photographs by David Heikkinen

It was so beautiful out today, I just kept having to go out, and out again. After my helper David arrived in the afternoon, we took a walk up Hemenway Street from Gainsborough all the way to Boylston Street. Even if I think I know a street well, there are always new violations to greet my eye.
Here is my first view of Hemenway after cutting through an alley.


When I want to go by Gainsborough St. to Huntington Avenue, I have to shoot across Hemenway Street right here, and turn right up Gainsborough St. -- in the middle of the road. The ramp in the middle of the picture leads nowhere. It is an orphan ramp -- no crosswalk and no ramp on the other side of the street.
In fact, there are no crosswalks between Westland Avenue and the Northeastern crosswalk at Forsyth Street.
This ramp is also way too steep. When Hemenway was resurfaced two years ago, Boston should have upgraded these ramps.

The south side of Gainsborough/Hemenway, with a 5.7% crossslope. That both sidewalks are unbearably dangerous is the reason that I and so many other people just stay in the street on Gainsborough. At least it is a one-way street, so we always know where the traffic is coming from.



Here is the other corner of Hemenway Street and Gainsborough St., also lacking a ramp where it should be, but with an orphan ramp that lacks a crosswalk, and has no opposite ramp on the other side of Hemenway to connect with. So for a wheelchair user to cross Gainsborough St., she or he must swerve out into Hemenway Street first. Dangerous!

Please click on the photograph for a larger version, and I hope you can see that the cross slope is 4.2%, twice the legal maximum. The sidewalk is so tilted that many people in wheelchairs simply can't use it safely.