Tacoman404 t1_j89vqs5 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:12 PM

RT 5 through West Springfield recently has been making me think about the highway infrastructure in the area. It could be argued that either RT 5 or 91 doesn’t have to exist as separate roads on separate sides of the river. From the Memorial bridge to the Riverdale shops you could just get rid of Rt 5. I know it’s a hot take but neither Springfield or West Springfield have a real waterfront district and that section already has a stretch of residential and the rest is useless car dealerships. There were apparently plans to bury 91 many moons ago but that seems more costly. That section of RT 5 is convenient but I wouldn’t be mad if it was gone.

KosherNazi t1_j89xfbr wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:23 PM

91 was originally supposed to go where rt 5 is, but it was lobbied to go thru springfield instead. thats why it crosses the river in chicopee and then crosses back again in windsor locks.

Tacoman404 t1_j8aesic wrote on February 12, 2023 at 9:22 PM

The most ironic thing is that it was lobbied by Springfield to increase commerce but it made 75% of the waterfront unusable and it just acts as a way to pass through the city to VT and the Pike.

UniWheel t1_j8c0azs wrote on February 13, 2023 at 4:23 AM

Historically being skipped by the railroad meant the commercial death of a city, people (especially in the cities that won the railroads) likely assumed the same would be true of the interstates.

Turned out of course to be more the opposite - you want good access to one, but to NOT have it going right through the city chopping it up.

UniWheel t1_j8c1sqz wrote on February 13, 2023 at 4:36 AM

>I know it’s a hot take but neither Springfield or West Springfield have a real waterfront district

When I think about it, I'm struggling to think of anywhere on the CT river that has much of a waterfront district. Maybe Holyoke where it's been heavily engineered?

May be because it's a silty, shallow river that's not really navigable.

Hartford has parks by the river, but they regularly flood.

In the pioneer valley it's just farmland (much of it restricting access) and out of the way boating.

Turners falls has on park above the dam and decaying industry and path along the canal below

Brattleboro has maybe one restaurant with a deck overlooking it but other than that it's rail yards and lumber, on the NH side it's just abandoned rails/trail with Hinsdale on a bluff far away and above.