But they added a 1 mile bike lane in West Springfield. /s

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..

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.

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.

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.

The Feds don’t need to fund infrastructure projects in Ma. Because there is no danger of us voting any but democrat.

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

Bike lane was a town project, DOT is responsible for paving route 5 as its a state highway

That happened because bicyclists were getting hit by cars.

Memorial Ave in W. Springfield is so bad right now too.

Got a private lane for my scooter now!

Even in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, I am astounded at the poor conditions of some of the roads around here. As a transplant to Mass., I ask, what is up with the poor infrastructure here? I lived in NJ all my life before here and accidentally downgraded. Now that's saying something lol.

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.

We have some of the most republican democrats in the country.

>After all it is a federal highway.

Incorrect. U.S. Highways are maintained by local or state governments. The only thing "Federal" about them is that their names are coordinated among/between states.

United States Numbered Highway System

>The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these highways were coordinated among the states, they are sometimes called Federal Highways, but the roadways were built and have always been maintained by state or local governments since their initial designation in 1926. The route numbers and locations are coordinated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

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Ummmm, Big Dig might like a word.

If anything the Big Dig used a huge share of federal money in Massachusetts, and we’re probably at the bottom of the list for the next decade or so.

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.

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.

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

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.

Should have left your car in NJ.

I drive Riverdale road from time to time. It is in rough condition. Wouldn’t be surprised if they let it get bad just to keep the speeds down.

Doing construction on Riverdale just exacerbates everything; def cant do it in the late summer or fall. It was simultaneously always under construction and never seemed to be improving for the 6 years I worked at T&V.

Help me understand as you seem to have a much better understanding of this subject but does Mass DOT receive Chapter 90 funds for infrastructure improvements? And does the Fed approve the requests for funding these projects? Because it's call US Route #5 I thought that this designation indicate it is a US highway? After all this road is interstate and therefore part of interstate commerce?

Full disclosure, I do have a car that I share with a friend of mine in the area. I start the engine every two weeks to make sure the battery doesn't die and actually use the car myself maybe once a month. Not a wise financial decision on my part, I know. I do like getting out of the city to the mountains to hike in the warmer months.

If you check my post/comment history, you'll see I'm active in a lot of transit- and city-related subs. I'm a big transit advocate and use the T almost daily is some form or another (bus, tram, subway) and also use the T commuter rail and Amtrak for weekend getaways or vacations. I try my best to support the T by actually riding it and to defend it on the internet based on my own experiences with other cities' transit systems (it's not easy being a keyboard warrior lol), but they're making it really difficult these days.

For example, my parents came to visit this weekend. Last night, we got tickets for a concert at the House of Blues over in Fenway. It took us nearly two hours to get from my apartment to the venue using the Green Line because of the closure between North Station and Government Center, where the T offered a shuttle bus between these stations instead. The bus took almost 25 minutes to go from North Station to Gov Center with traffic; walking between these two stations would have taken 15 minutes. Everyone on the bus was livid. We got to Government Center and packed like sardines into the tram and finally got to the Kenmore stop, having missed our dinner reservations. I was embarrassed that my parents had to put up with this experience. This felt like something out of 1930s Belarus or something. You bet your behind we took Uber back to my apartment after the show (a 16-min car ride).

Sorry for the long-winded answer. Maybe I am a hypocrite for having a car here, but my apartment had off-street parking included in the rent, so I said what the hell and brought my car with me. But honestly, I don't think it'll be a concern for me too much longer as I'm looking for jobs back in NJ now.

Edit: Forgot to add-- I noticed the shitty road conditions here on my bike moreso than in my car.

Actually Riverdale Street

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

U.S Numbered Routes, sometimes called federal highways, are not maintained with federal funds. The federal government is very much not involved, other than the Department of Transportation providing a consistent numbering system.

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

It’s uncontrollable.

Search here using "route 5" as key

https://hwy.massdot.state.ma.us/projectinfo/projectinfo.asp?num=608881

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

I'm just kidding.

Can we add the condition of the roads from the south and north end bridges heading into West Springfield and Agawam? I swear it feels like I lose a tire each time.

Also fuck Richie Neal.

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.

I agree! I think the general condition of the roads and highways in western Massachusetts are deplorable. I live in one of the towns north of Chicopee and our local streets and roads look like they've been bomb. Awful.

I also agree with your sentiments of Congressman Neal. He hasn't done much for our area and his mediocre help in retaining S&W is a tragedy.

Not to mention the controversy around the recent election with Mayor Moore. That really shined a light on the type of man Neal is.

THE WORST!!! I don’t understand why they don’t ever fix it!!!

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.

It was a federal initiative and they paid for the original construction but part of the deal was the state was responsible for maintenance.

Nope haha

[deleted]

It just degrades faster due to higher usage

A big part of the issue is that the road was originally paved with concrete. Since then the area has grown exponentially. I remember a time when the Showcase Theater was there almost by it itself and there was very little development on the northbound side of rt 5. Anyhow concrete and asphalt don’t play well together, the reality is that the concrete should be torn up and replaced with asphalt, the other part of the problem is that the infrastructure beneath the road is failing ( same as many other areas) so the road is always getting torn up.

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

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

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

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

Driving into Connecticut or New Hampshire especially

Yeah, Rte 5 is bad. I just took a teeth rattling jaunt down Damon Rd. in Northampton. It was worse than usual.

Rt 9 in Hadley is pretty awful as well

Or, certainly not into Connecticut!

Which states are you driving into?

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.

This is why I drive a jeep.

>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.

Chapter 90 is a state law that defines how state highway funds are distributed to local MA communities. It isn't MassDOT or federal highway funds.

Each year the state legislature appropriates (passes a budget with) a certain amount of money for MassDOT and for chapter 90.

MassDOT and sometimes individual communities can (and do) also apply for federal highway funding for projects. It is sometimes a bit more complicated - big projects are usually a mix of state and federal funds (plus sometimes local funds), and MassDOT also plans for a certain amount of federal highway funds each year (much like towns plan for a certain amount of chapter 90 funds). But we sunk many years of what would be MA's federal highway allotment to pay off the big dig, which probably put us way behind on federal highway funds available for the rest of the state.

As the top comment says, US numbered highways are not maintained by the federal government. US route 5 is just a federal designation for maps to help people get around, not any federal claim of ownership or responsibility for repairs.

US 5 might be locally owned or state owned - or even a mix; even if the towns own the "road", often the state owns/maintains the bigger bridges. Who owns it pretty much defines who is responsible for maintaining it. If the state, then MassHighway (for example, they definitely own I91). If the local town owns it, then it is the local town that needs to fix it, either through chapter 90 funds, local tax funds, or they can apply for a federal grant (often hard to get, you are competing with everyone else in the US).

But in the end - your local planning office, highway department, or state rep might be the best people to ask about who is responsible for fixing US5, and to ask why it isn't being fixed.

Hope that helps a little.

In the fall I drove from Webster to Burrillville, RI. My Jeep was not happy

No worries, when the money from the millionaires tax starts rolling in it'll get taken care of.

Don't despair! The 4% increase in tax revenues from the 1% should be ample funding to repair these roads.

/s

We all know all that money goes directly to the T. And then they'll tell us "we should be using public transportation to help preserve our roads."

Serves 10% of the state's population, gets 90% of the funding.

Seriously though you can drive through newton $$$$$ and see the same thing. I mean seriously...it is like I'm adventuring in the white mountains....

Mass DOT only cares about the Boston area that’s why. It’s not town jurisdiction so the town can’t do anything on it.

It is a state jurisdiction

I love that they didn't bother addressing the craters and pot holes down on the Holyoke side of route 5 but they put a "road diet" on the other side where the McDonalds is. I turn right onto route 5 at that intersection going towards 57 nearly every day for work and watching people drag race at the McDonalds light so they can be "first" before the lanes squeeze down to one seems significantly MORE dangerous than it was. I understand people had a hard time pulling out of their driveways and side streets there but now it's one lane and people are doing like 80mph+ to try and be first to the next rotary entrance. Not sure the road diet was the right answer there but I'm not a civil engineer.

Because the state only cares about boston

Many funding grants are only for increasing pedestrian traffic these days

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

It's the Holyoke part that's bad, West Springfield did major work to multiple sections over the past decade.

They're about to start a new portion this year as well:

WEST SPRINGFIELD – State officials are planning to repave the northern end of Riverdale Street (Route 5), the town engineer told West Springfield’s Town Council on Jan. 3.

The council voted to approve several utility pole relocations that are necessary before the work can begin. Town Engineer Connor Knightly told councilors that “a few miles” of potholed stretches from the Holyoke city line almost to the Interstate 91 ramps will be resurfaced.

He also said the heavily traveled street will gain some new sidewalks and a reconfigured intersection with Brush Hill Road.

“They’re simplifying the intersection a little bit to make it more conducive to traffic making U-turns,” Knightly said. “I know there have been issues at this location, vehicles using the wrong turning lane to make that maneuver, and ironically enough, colliding with each other in front of Red’s Towing.”

Currently, northbound drivers attempting to turn south at Brush Hill Road are expected not to make a tight U-turn, but to make a gentler left turn and enter a jughandle lane, merge with traffic coming from Brush Hill Road and wait at a traffic light to join southbound Riverdale Street.

Knightly also said the state is allowing West Springfield to set a school zone speed limit on Piper Road in front of West Springfield High School, in the area where a car struck and killed a pedestrian last month. He said the town is looking at applying for a state grant to install school zone signs with flashing lights and a radar display that shows each driver’s speed.

Also on Jan. 3, councilors took no additional action on their Dec. 5 order to ban heavy trucks from Larone Avenue, a side street connecting Elm and Riverdale streets. The council had been expected to vote on whether to override Mayor William Reichelt’s veto of the ban, but following a subcommittee discussion on Jan. 3, the mayor agreed to rescind his veto, Sullivan said.

Residents of Larone Avenue had requested the truck ban to prevent commercial vehicles from using their street as a shortcut to Route 5. They also complained about large trucks parking on the street and blocking traffic, but under state law, the town is only able to ban through trucks. Trucks making local deliveries to businesses on Larone Avenue will still be allowed to use the street.

I want to drive route 5 to Canada

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.

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.

I live in West Springfield and have to drive it almost daily. It's long been a dream to take the Governor for a ride down Riverdale and ask them to hold my nice hot cup of tea while I do it.

Because they are

https://hwy.massdot.state.ma.us/ProjectInfo/Main.asp?ACTION=ViewProject&PROJECT_NO=608374

Naw, https://hwy.massdot.state.ma.us/ProjectInfo/Main.asp?ACTION=ViewProject&PROJECT_NO=608374

Lots more freezing and thawing up here, especially closer to the water.