Why are new york city roads so 3rd world country? (neighborhood, buying)
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Part of it has to do with all the traffic nyc roads get. We also have variable weather conditions like extreme cold and hot. This winter has especially been brutal to the roads. There are also a lot of roads in the city. Also because of traffic roads are often installed very quickly and poorly. Given that a lot of utilities are underground utilities companies are always having to cut and rip up streets and they are never put back to how they were done. We just have to much road to focus on and do right. So much infrastructure.
NYC is 5 counties in one. In every other place in this country each county would be responsible for taking care of its roads and the county tax would pay for it (aside from state funding and state roads). Here we have a segment of the population that pays extremely high taxes (the rich) and then decently paid people also paying high taxes and all that money goes to support all the hoards of poor people. You may have noticed that some poor neighborhoods have nicer roads than rich or decent neighborhoods. Neighborhoods should be as good as the people living there and thus how much money is put in. If you look at hollywood florida the roads are amazing compared to nyc.
It's really a combination of reasons why. Some will say more tax payer money should be spent but enough money is already stolen from taxpayers in the form of taxes and the roads will just turn bad quickly again. The problem is nyc is just too big for one city to handle with too much of a concentrated population per square mile. In other areas you have main artery ways that are kept very nice and you can let gated communities pay for their own roads that connect to these streets. So there is a lot less roads that the county has to take care of.
The bulk of our infrastructure was designed a long time ago and for a lot less people. Basically we need someone with vision and some balls to put in place a plan that won't necessarily reap them immediate political benefit since it won't likely be completed while their in office. Not likely in today's political climate.
Having been to a 3rd world country, I don't agree that NYC streets are similar. But as already pointed out, NYC is an old city with a crumbling infrastructure with snowy winters and salt being used to treat it and this causes roads to get worse and worse.
In short, its not a priority here.
Go to Switzerland or the UK or Germany if you want beautiful smooth roads that are well lit, standardized and have proper cats eyes markings. The "Old city" nonsense - please. The cities in those countries go back over 1000yrs. Its the decision of whether or not to spend resources on roads etc - that's what is significant.
I just drive a bit slower this time of year so I can spot them or go through them more slowly. Most of them are patched up by the end of spring.
Having been to a 3rd world country, I don't agree that NYC streets are similar. But as already pointed out, NYC is an old city with a crumbling infrastructure with snowy winters and salt being used to treat it and this causes roads to get worse and worse.
This.
The majority of our highways were built in during the Moses era, when there was just a fraction of the amount of cars on the road that there are now.
I take the belt parkway every morning for over 20 miles on my commute...and honestly, within a day or two of a big storm, there are crews patching up major potholes. Yes, our roads are in bad shape, but would it really make sense to repave a whole stretch of highway before the end of the cold season just to have it break into pieces again from fluctuating temps? This is just a reality of living where we do.
Its NYC being penny wise and pound foolish. They must use a cheaper asphalt than other cities/municipalities. I was in Boston yesterday, on heavily travelled roads (worse than the BQE at rush hour) and didn't hit one pothole. And their winters are above and beyond anything we have in NY. They still have mountains of snow everywhere in Mass. First pothole I hit on the way back was about 10 feet into the Bronx. There has to be a better way.
Having been to a 3rd world country, I don't agree that NYC streets are similar. But as already pointed out, NYC is an old city with a crumbling infrastructure with snowy winters and salt being used to treat it and this causes roads to get worse and worse.
You're right. NYC roads are worse! I've been on smoother dirt roads while traveling the backroads of Costa Rica and Dominican Republic.
WE need to come up with a better product than ashphalt, it isnt and hasnt been working
Neither is throwing tons of salt around. There has to be something less corrosive than salt that they can spread out on the roads to combat ice and snow.
We need third world roads so the 3rd world looking subway system and trash built up on every street don't look out of place.
The infrastructure of this city is going to be in for some major pain. Everything needs major overhauls, but there isn't the funding. Any increase in funding will go to rising union employee wages / benefits / pensions. The funding gap just to keep the MTA running as is (that means bare minimum improvements on a system that needs almost a complete overhaul) is tens of billions of dollars. The bridges will need upgrades in the tens of billions. Just to update / replace the PA bus terminal is ten billion. We have the vice president of the country calling the airport third world, which needs billions in upgrades. We have the worst public transportation of any major developed city linking the heart of the city with the airports, which to update would be tens of billions of dollars.
Basically, the MTA is raising fares just to pay for a piece of duct tape to patch a hole in a dam.
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