Massachusetts roads

I came to the realization about 4 years ago, when I started attending school in Western Mass, that they do not care for their roads. Potholes, rutting, frost heaves and the like litter the roads all over MA. Every time I bring my Jeep into my mechanic, he says that I need an alignment. Half the time he's joking to get my heartrate to skyrocket, as he normally does. The other half, he's serious. He won't believe me that I don't drive the thing like a Corvette.

Case in point: This evening, I was driving to return a couple movies just down the road. I turned onto Broadway in Chicopee, and BAM! I hit a pothole so big, it should be classified as a ditch. Both front tires dipped and I was jarred against the solid edge on the other side. It was deep enough and wide enough that my whole tire was able to dip down in. I swear, my mechanic is going to shoot me the next time he sees the Jeep.

In 4 years, I have only seen one road in the area being repaved or repaired after the harsh New England winters that we encounter. Roads are put to the ultimate test in the Winter, being scraped by 5-ton plows, having road salt dumped on them, and constant temperature fluxuations. A small crack is caused by the base layer under the pavement "heaving" from a good frost. If water accumulates in the crack and freezes, the crack expands and eventually you have a pot hole. If the pot hole goes untreated, it can get to the size of a small pond in a matter of months. Every few years (about 7-10, depending on the material used) the roads need to be resurfaced. When I moved out here, I thought I just caught it towards the later stages of the life span, but as I traveled more, it became apparent that it's a state-wide problem.

My best example: on the highway near my apartment, like most highways, there are catch basins for storm water drainage. The problem: They're not sunk into the pavement. They're exposed and they sit about 4" above the level of the pavement. And how do they "fix" them? Road cones. On top of the catch basin. Thanks. Now I can see what's slicing the sidewall of my tire at 65mph.

New York has one of the best road care programs in the country. Why can't other states learn from us? Are New Yorkers really that evil?

So I've been thinking about this for most of the night, and I've made a couple conclusions:
- Roads in Massachusetts suck. Well, tonight wasn't the first night that I've realized that....
- Mechanics in MA must make a KILLING off of alignments and blowouts (low profile tires can't take hitting a pot hole - the rim severs the tire....)
- Road crews in MA don't exist, other than on the Mass Pike
- The construction you do see: Fake. They're not really doing anything except enabling cops to make time and a half to "supervise"

The Final conclusion, and most importantly:
- All money allocated to road repair in MA has gone into the Big Dig for the last 15-20 years.

That's right! The largest engineering nightmare in the country went 10.6 BILLION DOLLARS (About the 2007 4th QUARTER profit for ExxonMobil) over budget. No wonder the rest of the state is littered with pot holes and exposed bridge expansion joints. Basically all of the state's money has been dumped into the largest and most dangerous construction projects in US history. Granted the project employed almost 5000 people at one point, and created jobs for many, but the lives lost far outweigh the lives saved.

The other problem is that whenever a project like this is proposed (one as simple as repaving a degraded road), the public outcry is immense! It's so controversial to close one lane for a week! I'll be late for work! Well guess what? LEAVE EARLY!

Anyway, back on point. I think it's sad that I have to save memory space in my mind so I can remember the perfect line to take around pot holes on my way to school. Road construction isn't that hard. All it takes is some time, a good engineer, and some money.

My final conclusion: I will never live in MA. Mainly for these reasons. I already dump enough money into my Jeep, I don't need to spend more on alignments and new bushings every 6 months.