Symphony Hall perimeter access

Posted by John B. Kelly

I scouted out Symphony Hall last night to check out the access along the three sides with sidewalks. It is almost always the case that access is worse than I even expected.
First, I looked at the sidewalk along St. Stephen Street, which I don't think I had ever been on. I realized why when my assistant David and I found a cross slope of 4.9%.


That is way too steep for comfortable wheelchair travel. And in case any wheelchair user was intrepid enough to try to use the sidewalk, a wide gash made the BSO parking lot driveway uncrossable.


Although the sidewalk in front of Symphony Hall along Massachusetts Avenue has always terrified me -- it is incredibly sloped towards the street -- I had never measured it. In front of one set of stairs, 9.2%, in front of the other, 8.7%. Legal limit = 2%.




That means that the cross slope of this sidewalk is steeper than the maximum allowed slope of a ramp. In other words, this sidewalk is too dangerous to move any direction in.

Most brick sidewalks will yield up one of its pavers on a regular basis (abducted for shelving?). But I was disappointed that the missing brick I saw last week near the Huntington Avenue entrance had been replaced.
But we did find a new hole, right next to a parked car. I can imagine someone getting out of the rear seat, and saying goodbye to their ankle for a long time. Of course this is illegal -- you're not allowed to just drill a hole in a sidewalk and walk away without making it safe again.