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wastingtoomuchthyme t1_j89evyq wrote

Many roads in Massachusetts are going to shit..

Don't know if it's because of the weather but most likely it's the lack of funding..

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A_Man_Who_Writes t1_j89j9mk wrote

One thing I just don’t get. One of the most well-off states financially can’t maintain its roads. Love driving over the border and instantly hitting smooth roads.

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squarerootofapplepie t1_j89mi73 wrote

You must not be driving over the border into Rhode Island.

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bobmcrobber t1_j8ar09n wrote

Driving into Connecticut or New Hampshire especially

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WinsingtonIII t1_j8dzcei wrote

I mean the roads in NY state are significantly worse in my experience, and it's also a high income state.

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Marco_Memes t1_j89yfsx wrote

It’s because roads are a trap since their cheap to build but expensive to maintain, and they all tend to need maintenance around the same time when you build a bunch at once. When that time comes around, you’ve got a gigantic cost to pay for resurfacing and Pothole fixing and the like, and the budget isn’t enough to pay for it. So some get fixed and the rest get kicked down the line. But the thing is, then other roads need the same thing and the same problem arises, and there’s never enough in the budget to pay for it all. And since roads and streets don’t even make close to enough money to pay for their own maintenance, you need to rely on government funding. But here’s the fun thing, in order to make enough money for those maintenance bills, taxes would have to be raised so high that people would be paying more than their entire yearly income on taxes alone, which obviously you can’t do. So the money never comes, and the roads stay broken. But since we’re all so far deep down the car dependency pit and the initial construction cost is the only number anybody looks at, we keep building roads that we can’t afford since it’s the only transportation option that anybody thinks we can build. And so the cycle continues.

There’s a great series on YouTube that goes into more depth on this, it’s by the creator NotJustBikes and it’s his StrongTowns series. Looks into how car dependant places are being subsidized by walkable/public transit focussed places. Highly recommend watching it

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AnyRound5042 t1_j8a3rz0 wrote

This is the answer. And also why we need to fund more public transit

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DJScrubatires t1_j8abr1e wrote

FYI Not Just Bikes was talking about Strong Towns. Strong Towns itself was created by Chuck Marohn Jr. He has written some books: Strong Towns and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer.

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Marco_Memes t1_j8akq41 wrote

Yes I’m aware, NJB calls it his strong town series since it’s about the books called the same thing, which is why I called it the strong towns series

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lazybum86 t1_j8aawbc wrote

If they are cheaper to build than maintain why not just build a new one over the old one?

I'm just kidding.

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Marco_Memes t1_j8aku7a wrote

Call the governor, you may have stumbled onto a gold mine here

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UncleCustard t1_j89ghcs wrote

Going to shit....yes. This has been a hazard since 2006. That year over 40 cars were destroyed in the pot hole that is right outside Dunkin. Ive blown 2 tires on that road and own of my old coworkers snapped a strut on his 3 year old car.

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GibsonL-5 OP t1_j8ftnbn wrote

Was it not a few years ago when the north bound lane under the "tunnel" was in such bad repair that the road was shut down? I believe that the entire road from the Springfield Rotary to Holyoke needs some re-engineering. I also believe that that this route is important to the area economy. When you consider the number of business along that road from the Big Box Home Depot to the numerous new car agencies one would think that that portion of the roadway be given some priority. If I were a business owner I would be concerned if the highway gets any worse that it it lead to a slow down of business.

I did lose a front rim on a S40 Volvo but I think those are made from plastic anyway.

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UncleCustard t1_j8fvc07 wrote

One of my biggest clients is right by the hospital.....oh yeah, there is a hospital there. And that's the worst part of the road. Right in front of the hospital.

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11BMasshole t1_j89jti7 wrote

I started driving in 1987, this particular stretch of road has been terrible since then. It’s literally never been addressed since. It is absolutely a car eater.

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LowkeyPony t1_j89y6av wrote

The city of Fitchburg is floating the idea of a $200 per vehicle fee; in addition to excise taxes and property taxes, for road repair in the city.

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TinyEmergencyCake t1_j8aoqgv wrote

Should start the fine off for the heaviest vehicles. Pickup trucks and large suv

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AboyNamedBort t1_j89yxdz wrote

Drivers create potholes and refuse to pay more than a few pennies for gas tax yet still complain. Massachusetts drivers get hundreds of millions in hand outs and think they are somehow the ones getting screwed.

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Kitsu-Chi t1_j8a87z4 wrote

Potholes are created by the weather, snow heaves, contraction and expansion. Usually plows create potholes yearly.

It’s uncontrollable.

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bobmcrobber t1_j8aqxh8 wrote

Most of 126 through bellingham is shit. Once you cross into Medway or even Woonsocket, the road becomes 100x smoother

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