Citizen complaint of the day: Tight fit in Jamaica Plain

There are two driving lanes and one parking lane, but you can see that the driving lane is unnecessarily wide.

And it's not just the hydrant, it's poles as well.

1) Move the fence back to wide the sidewalk in to the lawn beyond it by a foot or two.

2) Build a bump-out in to the street to get the sidewalk around the hydrant. Cambridge has done something similar to get sidewalks around trees (i.e. on Tufts Street, there's something similar going in on Pearl).

You can see the car wheel in the picture clearly indicates someone has parked next to the hydrant or at least close enough that it's a tow-able offense.

As an engineer who works on municipal roadway projects, I can tell you exactly why that pole is perfectly fine where it is. The requirement is that it is at least 18" behind the face of the curb, and that there is at least a 3' (4' preferred) wide path of travel either in front of or behind it to accommodate wheelchairs. This meets all the required standards, and permits a wheelchair user to pass.

As for why it's in the middle of the sidewalk, look at the utility poles behind the sidewalk - if you wanted to put the light pole behind the sidewalk, you'd need to relocate the adjacent utility pole, and likely other utility poles too, or add a guy wire or pole, which no utility wants to do. So there's not really any other practical place to put it.

Just cause it's a standard doesn't mean it makes sense, particularly when most transportation engineering standards favor cars above all road others.

Two thoughts:

Then why on that same street as part of that same project, there are street lights that are less than 18" from the curb?

Just because something meets a standard doesn't mean it's the right solution. If you were a blind person walking down this sidewalk, would you expect a street light pole to be directly in the middle, or up against the curb?

Sometimes engineers need to put down the standards manual and use their brains to look at a situation using some common sense, or at least from the perspective of someone actually using the street.

be on the other side of the hydrant?

pedestrians are being murdered by drivers on the sidewalk, you think a wheelchair user (who has less visibility being lower) should risk their life in the street!?

No, what I think is that drivers should slow the fuck down and, if necessary, wait their turn for the road if a wheelchair user got there first.

Different behaviors for different neighborhoods with different conditions, eh?

In my neighborhood, the sidewalks are narrow, frequently interrupted by tree pits, mail boxes, other items, and were built mainly as a landing to get from the street to and from the houses, and not for through pedestrian traffic. Pedestrians and wheelchair users generally use the street when they're moving about the neighborhood. I see wheelchair users in the street every single day, mixed in with the pedestrians proceeding on foot. When a car comes up the street, the driver waits for the person to get to the next convenient place to move out of the way. In the case of a pedestrian, that's generally the next large space between parked cars; in the case of a wheelchair user, generally the next intersection, hydrant, or other space where he or she can pull aside and let the car through.

Obviously this would not be the norm on a major thoroughfare, but it is the norm where I live. Judging by the photo, the street is one where, like mine, the sidewalk isn't really designed for pedestrian or wheelchair traffic.

On Harrison Ave near Mass Ave. It's not unheard of.

In my neighborhood, the sidewalks are so narrow that most pedestrians (and every single wheelchair user, of which there are plenty) uses the street instead. It doesn't seem to be a problem; if someone driving a car tries to come down the street, they simply wait until the wheelchair user reaches the next intersection.