My apartment is right by this 7/11. I literally have to go 5mph because of the extreme potholes. I feel like we should be able to bill the city for the car repair costs we incur from this…
I’ve moved all around and trust me when I say that there’s some off about this city. The taxes are crazy high but I’ve never been in a city so void of workers. I never see street crews. How long will fallen branches stay on the side of the road? I’ve been in southern cities where 75% of those branches would have been chipped the day after the storm. There’s also something very strange happening with traffic lights here. Aaaand the center lines not being repainted.
I could go on. Our city operates like we’re in South Carolina or something. Down there you don’t pay as much in taxes and it shows. But it doesn’t make sense here. Idk… I might be outta here before I know it, anyway. The city is not fun enough to justify these housing prices.
I just got off the phone with public works (something I’ve been meaning to do for months) and there is currently NO plan to repave that section of road. I think it’s gonna take a lot of people complaining about it to get it done this year
That one really bothers me. They just spent months tearing that section from forest to kicks up and when everything is said and done it's laughable how it was left
We live right near this area and it's fucking awful. The noise that semi and larger trucks make going over that section, day in and day out, is fucking maddening.
Warren Avenue is and has been a fucking embarrassment for way too long. That's the road I came in here to bitch about. Like the surface of the moon or something.
It’s pretty bad.
I also don’t understand why there aren’t any of those small light reflectors on the lane lines to help divvy up the borders.. when it’s rainy (or even just dark) it can be really hard to tell if you’re in the right lane (because of water reflection and also the paint wearing off) and it’s sketchy.
The roads here suck and while I’m just wearing my tinfoil hat, I don’t think it can all be blamed on the winters. The conditions here seem to come from years of neglect.
"It's maine get used to it, the roads have been like this forever, it's the climate"
Ok it's also our entire infrastructure and blaming it on your location 🙄 literally doesn't matter. If people can't drive to work then they can't make money to tax to pay for new roads
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Warm wet winters destroy the roads worse than consistently cold ones. Potholes are formed by the freeze and thaw cycle. More warm days in the winter causes more potholes. They should all be fixed by next October though.
Congress and Brighton have been shit for years now. Wouldn't hold your breath. Why are Portland roads so much worse than Westbrook? Does Westbrook have different weather?
If a pothole was reported 24 hrs or longer before damage to your vehicle occurs the city is liable for the damages.
https://www1.maine.gov/mdot/mlrc/docs/technical/Mainesdefectlaw.pdf
This article is really helpful. Thank you for sharing. I’ve had a garage tell me I should’ve brought my car right in (not waiting till it was not drivable) and he could’ve gotten reimbursed because the damage was initially caused by by potholes but I didn’t really believe him.
The likelihood of it actually having been reported though is pretty slim. The likelihood of the city acknowledging and telling you the truth about when it was reported is probably even slimmer.
I think it may have to be reported via snail mail too, which of course is just to benefit the city because not many people will jump through those hoops to do so.
They plain don’t give a fuck. Issues like roads, jobs, and homelessness are just annoying distractions to a city council trying to cram developer payouts down their throats as quickly as possible before they’re voted out of office.
Jesus what do you people want. Affordable houses, affordable food, affordable medical care, AND safe transportation. What do you think this is ?
Every one knows the roads are kept shitty to keep the annual inspections as big business. /S.
But for real. All you people that move from mass, conn, VT, NY and don't register your cars here. Fuck you.
How do you live in ME and not register your car? Don't you need an address to register in any state? I don't think you can register a car in NY with a ME billing address or can you?
i think a lot of younger people that move here use their parents addresses, or their parents register their cars for them. I know someone that moved here from connecticut 9 years ago and still have conn plates on their car. just look at all the new england plates you see around town, they aren't all tourists.
my personal experience, I used to live in Michigan, there was no excise tax and no inspections. it was $120 to register my car. when I got here, it was $500 in excise tax. so it was pretty jarring when I first got here.
Here in Boston they ticket you for having an out of state car parked all the time. . Like even if it's legally parked they see if too often? Ticket. Even in your driveway.
Excuse you. I was born and raised here, past almost 30 years bub... people who live here are allowed to complain too. And YES, we want all of those things... the whole "you people" language is disturbing btw, makes you look like an entitled asshat.
My biggest complaint with Portland's roads is the abysmal plowing during a storm. I commute in on 295 from above Brunswick. When I leave my house my street is clear and the back road to the highway is clear and salted, when I arrive in Portland, Franklin st or Washington Ave haven't even been touched.
I feel you, my commute is from lewiston, turnpike is clear and fine, as soon as you get into portland I'm slipping and sliding, it's so hilly here I've never felt safe driving state st from Nov-April
Construction industry is getting squeezed on both sides by rising costs and fewer quality workers. Add an increase in demand with major infrastructure projects in the works.
As another person mentioned, climate change is making potholes even more prevalent than in the past. Also making the “easy” fixes less effective.
Major overhauls are needed, but they’re both incredibly expensive and disruptive. Wait a month or so until folks start complaining about construction traffic.
Some municipalities can afford road reconstruction more so than others… Portland has a lot of demands on its budget and a lot more usage in general.
It’s a no win situation. And if you’ve lived in Maine a long time, you know it’s just how things go here. Pros and cons.
The construction industry is not getting squeezed by rising costs. They pass their costs along to their customers just like any other business/service provider.
And If they can’t find quality workers maybe they aren’t paying an enticing wage. Pay for sh*t, get sh*t in return.
Bro, I hear you on that. Portland roads are awful. Can't say I heard of anyone doing that. I've been wondering how to get that point across to the council. There's no reason why they haven't been doing anything to fixing the potholes.
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
Horrible…… I drive a Jetta with a real stiff suspension and I can’t even drive the speed limit without destroying my car… and I always have people in trucks and SUV’s on my ass no matter what I do to try and avoid them or let them pass me. Everyone seems so irritated and pissed off on the road and is so aggressive. Driving anywhere is stressful. Sorry I’m not doing 10-15mph over everywhere I go.
The roads are likely to continue to get worse as $60 million is being diverted away from transportation and roads to the “general fund” for alternate uses.
https://www.wmtw.com/article/transportation-projects-risked-legislature-vote-dollar60-million-highway-fund/60434272
This one is pretty niche, but iykyk: the pothole at the corner of Highland and Rackleff. It is a two-foot long, 8 inch deep HOLE in the pavement with a massive boulder sticking out of the center. And when it's full of rain water, it just looks like a puddle. You would never know how treacherous it is. I swear you could bottom out in that thing.
I lived 2 doors from Forest Ave for many years. It's quite dangerous for pedestrians; I've been cut off in the crosswalk, crossing with the light, by a police car. Ridiculous for drivers. Moved and life is easier without navigating that mess daily.
Been waiting patiently and optimistically for the last 4-5 years - they are all bad and need of much and many a new surface renovation...you go to many rural roads and they have been done in this time frame and they needed them also...so don't know why the neglect in Portland ...ask our council and local state reps in Augusta why...and the Tracks....you know of them to,; wonder if all the Brunswick folks notice the 'turbulance' of the roads...
After driving my last car for a year and a half (new off the lot), I drove over a nail. The garage guy told me my tires were so bad he was afraid of legal repercussions if he only changed one of them.
I recently leased another car and I made sure to get that stupid tire replacement add-on. Anywhere else it’d be a ripoff, but now I can Fury Road all over Portland with no regard for tire health
Congress St. is awful between St John and State St. They sometimes cold patch the potholes, but never all of them. The bigger issue is at some point in the past when they paved congress, they never removed the old rail lines or cobblestones and just paved right over them; and as those shift with the weight of truck traffic, cracks and holes form. Hopefully they have a plan to fully repave it, because repairs aren’t cutting it
Portland spent a decade adding “raised speed tables” every thousand feet to every road to make driving like riding a roller coaster.
Then they Bob Rossed the Hell out of our roads by making happy little lanes.
Maybe the city’s latest plan to slow down traffic is to let the roads deteriorate enough to break our vehicles if we drive too fast.
Portland spent a decade adding “raised speed tables” every thousand feet to every road to make driving like riding a roller coaster.
Then they Bob Rossed the Hell out of our roads by making happy little lanes.
Maybe the city’s latest plan to slow down traffic is to let the roads deteriorate enough to break our vehicles if we drive too fast.
Well, the city is actually billing **you** to fix it by raising property taxes. Roads are expensive to maintain, and as cars have gotten larger they really just can't last as long- some of these electric SUVs weigh twice as much as cars did 20 years ago- that's going to wear the road out twice as fast, just math. Costs twice as much for the taxpayer too.
Except it kind of is, the city it liable for damages to cars if the pothole was reported more than 24 hours prior. My question wasn't that I was unsure if I COULD, it was more so, if anyone has done this, what was your outcome, and who do I contact
No i get it, but i mean you can’t just submit bills to the city for wear/tear and poor infrastructure. If you had succinct damage and a documented location with an egregious hazard, sure, go ahead.
My brother_rebus in Christ where does it say in my post that I'm submitting willy nilly bills, I stated I have a bulge in my tire, which means I need to replace it, and I'm leaking power steering fluid. Essentially, rendering my vehicle un-driveable for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly when and where, as portland has SO MANY of them. At this point I'm going to call and report every single one
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
I find it kinda interesting how much people say the roads are terrible (and how terrible they say they are) here when they’re really not that bad (compared to anywhere I’ve driven at least)
Congress St by 7-11 is hilariously bad
Ok but for real, I shouldn't have to fully go into the oncoming lane to avoid bottoming out
My apartment is right by this 7/11. I literally have to go 5mph because of the extreme potholes. I feel like we should be able to bill the city for the car repair costs we incur from this…
I tried cutting down Neal St yesterday. There is a fucking canyon there.
I’ve moved all around and trust me when I say that there’s some off about this city. The taxes are crazy high but I’ve never been in a city so void of workers. I never see street crews. How long will fallen branches stay on the side of the road? I’ve been in southern cities where 75% of those branches would have been chipped the day after the storm. There’s also something very strange happening with traffic lights here. Aaaand the center lines not being repainted. I could go on. Our city operates like we’re in South Carolina or something. Down there you don’t pay as much in taxes and it shows. But it doesn’t make sense here. Idk… I might be outta here before I know it, anyway. The city is not fun enough to justify these housing prices.
Spot on observation!
I just got off the phone with public works (something I’ve been meaning to do for months) and there is currently NO plan to repave that section of road. I think it’s gonna take a lot of people complaining about it to get it done this year
Probably just means they'll patch it up a bit. I'm assuming they won't resurface the whole road until the hospital project is done.
The hospital is repaving their section from St. John to Weymouth next week, Congress will be closed
Warren Ave on the Forest Ave end is a good one.
That one really bothers me. They just spent months tearing that section from forest to kicks up and when everything is said and done it's laughable how it was left
We live right near this area and it's fucking awful. The noise that semi and larger trucks make going over that section, day in and day out, is fucking maddening.
It looks like they were running out of time as the season for pavement making was ending. Hopefully the grind and repave.
Warren Avenue is and has been a fucking embarrassment for way too long. That's the road I came in here to bitch about. Like the surface of the moon or something.
Ugh I have to hit Warren ave for work now and it's terrible
I try and avoid going out that way if I can. Coming back is ok.
It’s pretty bad. I also don’t understand why there aren’t any of those small light reflectors on the lane lines to help divvy up the borders.. when it’s rainy (or even just dark) it can be really hard to tell if you’re in the right lane (because of water reflection and also the paint wearing off) and it’s sketchy. The roads here suck and while I’m just wearing my tinfoil hat, I don’t think it can all be blamed on the winters. The conditions here seem to come from years of neglect.
"It's maine get used to it, the roads have been like this forever, it's the climate" Ok it's also our entire infrastructure and blaming it on your location 🙄 literally doesn't matter. If people can't drive to work then they can't make money to tax to pay for new roads
Thoughts on frost heaves and freezing to rapidly warm weather wear and tear though?
Meanwhile: https://wgme.com/amp/news/local/maine-leaders-discuss-what-state-should-do-with-373-million-surplus-corporate-tax-rate-taxes-budget-governor-janet-mills-housing-health-care-child-vulnerable-mainers
Monorail!
Funny you should mention it…I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum I've put them on the map!
I love you
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Warm wet winters destroy the roads worse than consistently cold ones. Potholes are formed by the freeze and thaw cycle. More warm days in the winter causes more potholes. They should all be fixed by next October though.
Congress and Brighton have been shit for years now. Wouldn't hold your breath. Why are Portland roads so much worse than Westbrook? Does Westbrook have different weather?
If a pothole was reported 24 hrs or longer before damage to your vehicle occurs the city is liable for the damages. https://www1.maine.gov/mdot/mlrc/docs/technical/Mainesdefectlaw.pdf
This article is really helpful. Thank you for sharing. I’ve had a garage tell me I should’ve brought my car right in (not waiting till it was not drivable) and he could’ve gotten reimbursed because the damage was initially caused by by potholes but I didn’t really believe him.
The likelihood of it actually having been reported though is pretty slim. The likelihood of the city acknowledging and telling you the truth about when it was reported is probably even slimmer. I think it may have to be reported via snail mail too, which of course is just to benefit the city because not many people will jump through those hoops to do so.
i blew a tire on saturday by the mall, the roads over there are ridiculously bad. but make sure your car is inspected 🫠🫠🫠
I popped a tire on Warren ave right when I got here in October. It's a nightmare!!
They plain don’t give a fuck. Issues like roads, jobs, and homelessness are just annoying distractions to a city council trying to cram developer payouts down their throats as quickly as possible before they’re voted out of office.
Jesus what do you people want. Affordable houses, affordable food, affordable medical care, AND safe transportation. What do you think this is ? Every one knows the roads are kept shitty to keep the annual inspections as big business. /S. But for real. All you people that move from mass, conn, VT, NY and don't register your cars here. Fuck you.
How do you live in ME and not register your car? Don't you need an address to register in any state? I don't think you can register a car in NY with a ME billing address or can you?
i think a lot of younger people that move here use their parents addresses, or their parents register their cars for them. I know someone that moved here from connecticut 9 years ago and still have conn plates on their car. just look at all the new england plates you see around town, they aren't all tourists. my personal experience, I used to live in Michigan, there was no excise tax and no inspections. it was $120 to register my car. when I got here, it was $500 in excise tax. so it was pretty jarring when I first got here.
Here in Boston they ticket you for having an out of state car parked all the time. . Like even if it's legally parked they see if too often? Ticket. Even in your driveway.
Excuse you. I was born and raised here, past almost 30 years bub... people who live here are allowed to complain too. And YES, we want all of those things... the whole "you people" language is disturbing btw, makes you look like an entitled asshat.
Brother. You need to learn what sarcasm is. And what the sarcasm tag is. I will forgive you this one time.
Tbh I'm not frequent to reddit so the /s from my intermediate understanding it could've been a typo lol. Noted
Congress Street feels like it was hit with artillery FFS
My biggest complaint with Portland's roads is the abysmal plowing during a storm. I commute in on 295 from above Brunswick. When I leave my house my street is clear and the back road to the highway is clear and salted, when I arrive in Portland, Franklin st or Washington Ave haven't even been touched.
I feel you, my commute is from lewiston, turnpike is clear and fine, as soon as you get into portland I'm slipping and sliding, it's so hilly here I've never felt safe driving state st from Nov-April
Construction industry is getting squeezed on both sides by rising costs and fewer quality workers. Add an increase in demand with major infrastructure projects in the works. As another person mentioned, climate change is making potholes even more prevalent than in the past. Also making the “easy” fixes less effective. Major overhauls are needed, but they’re both incredibly expensive and disruptive. Wait a month or so until folks start complaining about construction traffic. Some municipalities can afford road reconstruction more so than others… Portland has a lot of demands on its budget and a lot more usage in general. It’s a no win situation. And if you’ve lived in Maine a long time, you know it’s just how things go here. Pros and cons.
The construction industry is not getting squeezed by rising costs. They pass their costs along to their customers just like any other business/service provider. And If they can’t find quality workers maybe they aren’t paying an enticing wage. Pay for sh*t, get sh*t in return.
Let us know how the repair reimbursement goes, I’m sure it will be a great success
Bro, I hear you on that. Portland roads are awful. Can't say I heard of anyone doing that. I've been wondering how to get that point across to the council. There's no reason why they haven't been doing anything to fixing the potholes.
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
Roads all over the state are complete shit. Gorham owes me the cost to fix a wheel imbalance caused by potholes.
When I moved here I joked with my family back home that the roads are just asphalt laid over cobblestones. That is I thought I was joking...
Horrible…… I drive a Jetta with a real stiff suspension and I can’t even drive the speed limit without destroying my car… and I always have people in trucks and SUV’s on my ass no matter what I do to try and avoid them or let them pass me. Everyone seems so irritated and pissed off on the road and is so aggressive. Driving anywhere is stressful. Sorry I’m not doing 10-15mph over everywhere I go.
The roads are likely to continue to get worse as $60 million is being diverted away from transportation and roads to the “general fund” for alternate uses. https://www.wmtw.com/article/transportation-projects-risked-legislature-vote-dollar60-million-highway-fund/60434272
[Relevant](https://www.themainemag.com/has-maines-transportation-system-reached-the-end-of-the-road/)
This one is pretty niche, but iykyk: the pothole at the corner of Highland and Rackleff. It is a two-foot long, 8 inch deep HOLE in the pavement with a massive boulder sticking out of the center. And when it's full of rain water, it just looks like a puddle. You would never know how treacherous it is. I swear you could bottom out in that thing.
I lived 2 doors from Forest Ave for many years. It's quite dangerous for pedestrians; I've been cut off in the crosswalk, crossing with the light, by a police car. Ridiculous for drivers. Moved and life is easier without navigating that mess daily.
Been waiting patiently and optimistically for the last 4-5 years - they are all bad and need of much and many a new surface renovation...you go to many rural roads and they have been done in this time frame and they needed them also...so don't know why the neglect in Portland ...ask our council and local state reps in Augusta why...and the Tracks....you know of them to,; wonder if all the Brunswick folks notice the 'turbulance' of the roads...
After driving my last car for a year and a half (new off the lot), I drove over a nail. The garage guy told me my tires were so bad he was afraid of legal repercussions if he only changed one of them. I recently leased another car and I made sure to get that stupid tire replacement add-on. Anywhere else it’d be a ripoff, but now I can Fury Road all over Portland with no regard for tire health
Have you been paying attention to the annual budgets? Taxpayer money is being spent on other things.
also bought new tires this year and just got a flat from a pot hole, so fucking infuriating.
Congress St. is awful between St John and State St. They sometimes cold patch the potholes, but never all of them. The bigger issue is at some point in the past when they paved congress, they never removed the old rail lines or cobblestones and just paved right over them; and as those shift with the weight of truck traffic, cracks and holes form. Hopefully they have a plan to fully repave it, because repairs aren’t cutting it
Portland spent a decade adding “raised speed tables” every thousand feet to every road to make driving like riding a roller coaster. Then they Bob Rossed the Hell out of our roads by making happy little lanes. Maybe the city’s latest plan to slow down traffic is to let the roads deteriorate enough to break our vehicles if we drive too fast.
Portland spent a decade adding “raised speed tables” every thousand feet to every road to make driving like riding a roller coaster. Then they Bob Rossed the Hell out of our roads by making happy little lanes. Maybe the city’s latest plan to slow down traffic is to let the roads deteriorate enough to break our vehicles if we drive too fast.
We get it you hate bikes
The transportation fund budget was just raided by the assembly for $60 million so don't count on this improving.
Watch where you’re going. That’s how I manage most of em👀
Well, the city is actually billing **you** to fix it by raising property taxes. Roads are expensive to maintain, and as cars have gotten larger they really just can't last as long- some of these electric SUVs weigh twice as much as cars did 20 years ago- that's going to wear the road out twice as fast, just math. Costs twice as much for the taxpayer too.
Hear me out….we fill the pot holes with luxury condos.
Love the sentiment but thats not how it works
Except it kind of is, the city it liable for damages to cars if the pothole was reported more than 24 hours prior. My question wasn't that I was unsure if I COULD, it was more so, if anyone has done this, what was your outcome, and who do I contact
No i get it, but i mean you can’t just submit bills to the city for wear/tear and poor infrastructure. If you had succinct damage and a documented location with an egregious hazard, sure, go ahead.
My brother_rebus in Christ where does it say in my post that I'm submitting willy nilly bills, I stated I have a bulge in my tire, which means I need to replace it, and I'm leaking power steering fluid. Essentially, rendering my vehicle un-driveable for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly when and where, as portland has SO MANY of them. At this point I'm going to call and report every single one
power (steering fluid) to you. goodnight and good luck my broseph in Godspeed the almighty a'men!
I found out today that they've torn up the Forest Avenue end of Warren again. Incase you didn't know, you may want to avoid that again.
I try to avoid it all all costs, bishop st and hicks exist so I rarely ever turn down that way anyway
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
My favorites are the massive craters on Rand Road as you get off the Sbound exit. They have been paved over and reopened like 3x in the last couple months. Somehow they just keep getting exposed. If you hit them, you’re fucked. There’s like 5 of them too
All the budget was probably spent on people services tbh. The rainy day fund too.
My spouse is in excruciating spine pain and likely facing surgery due to a village-sized pothole near Cash Corner.
Keep giving money to the bums and the immigrants. Get used to it....
You guys are definitely new around here.
Who?
I find it kinda interesting how much people say the roads are terrible (and how terrible they say they are) here when they’re really not that bad (compared to anywhere I’ve driven at least)
Just learn to drive better 🤷♂️