It does not seem to connect to anything or serve anywhere with a lot of people and I don't see why the road needs to exist.
It was intended as a West Agawam bypass and provide a faster way for Southwick residents to get to I-91 and Springfield. It was planned to extend a little further west and tie directly into existing 57, probably where it crosses Provin Mountain...this would allow it to bypass the Johnson Corner and Feeding Hills hamlets in Agawam.
Six Flags New England.
^ Is off the first exit west of 5 (which also doesn't have ramps to/from the west). Six Flags wouldn't explain the rest of the freeway.
Quote from: froggie on January 22, 2019, 01:36:13 PM
It was intended as a West Agawam bypass and provide a faster way for Southwick residents to get to I-91 and Springfield. It was planned to extend a little further west and tie directly into existing 57, probably where it crosses Provin Mountain...this would allow it to bypass the Johnson Corner and Feeding Hills hamlets in Agawam.
How busy is it?
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 22, 2019, 03:28:55 PM
Quote from: froggie on January 22, 2019, 01:36:13 PM
It was intended as a West Agawam bypass and provide a faster way for Southwick residents to get to I-91 and Springfield. It was planned to extend a little further west and tie directly into existing 57, probably where it crosses Provin Mountain...this would allow it to bypass the Johnson Corner and Feeding Hills hamlets in Agawam.
How busy is it?
Numbers may be a bit outdated.
AADT:
US 5 to MA 159: 41k
MA 159 to MA 75: 27k
MA 75 to Mill St.: 21k
Mill St. to Garden St.: 17k
Garden St. to end of freeway: 14k
MA 187 overlap: 12k
MA 57 west of MA 187: 12k
For comparison, MA 135 in Needham is about 12k, and I-95/MA 128 in Needham is about 140k.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 22, 2019, 01:23:58 PM
It does not seem to connect to anything or serve anywhere with a lot of people and I don't see why the road needs to exist.
It takes the load of MA 147. An absolute mess of a road. It also has the same purpose that I-384 does, a bypass of Agawam. I don't think SFNE had anything to do with the freeway being built. Traffic originating from the south uses CT 190 to CT/MA 159. My fantasy is for it to one day go all the way to US 7.
Quote from: froggie on January 22, 2019, 02:04:26 PM
^ Is off the first exit west of 5 (which also doesn't have ramps to/from the west). Six Flags wouldn't explain the rest of the freeway.
And you still have to go through Agawam Center.
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on January 22, 2019, 05:46:25 PM
My fantasy is for it to one day go all the way to US 7.
I'd prefer for it to link up with the CT 8 freeway in Winchester and combine all of it into an I-184 or something.
MA 57's expressway has been around in various forms since the US 5 expressway was built, since it's intended to help take traffic for the Big E and (what was at the time) Riverside. It's also for east-west Springfield commuters along those CT border towns.
At first it was only built to the current Mill street exit, where it blended in with Mill Street. It was extended to South Westfield street (MA 187) in the mid-90s, with provisions for phase 2 to extend to the intersection of Foster Hill Road and Feeding Hills Road. Even though the state has done property acquisitions for the extension, it's been thwarted by lack of funding. Traffic at the main Feeding Hills intersection of 57/187 is getting progressively worse, the state and town decided to band-aid it over with a redesigned intersection a year or two ago. It helps, but it's basically stalling until the rest of the highway is ever built. The state legislature just doesn't see finishing it as a priority.
I used to drive on it all the time, the road is certainly not worthless. The town roads in that area aren't built for the traffic, either for the event tourists or just for people going to Springfield. Not just for convenience, but for safety, as those have been some pretty gnarly intersections for the amount of traffic they get.
Quote from: Ben114 on January 22, 2019, 05:53:05 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on January 22, 2019, 05:46:25 PM
My fantasy is for it to one day go all the way to US 7.
I'd prefer for it to link up with the CT 8 freeway in Winchester and combine all of it into an I-184 or something.
I'll settle for it connecting to 10/202 across from the southwestern end of the 10/202/57 triplex.
I've used it quite a bit to get home from Springfield when I-91 or I-84 had roadwork in downtown Hartford. I would take MA 57 to MA/CT 187 to CT 189 to CT 218 and go through West Hartford to get to I-84. Also a nice bypass of the Big E area during September.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on January 22, 2019, 08:20:07 PM
Quote from: Ben114 on January 22, 2019, 05:53:05 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on January 22, 2019, 05:46:25 PM
My fantasy is for it to one day go all the way to US 7.
I'd prefer for it to link up with the CT 8 freeway in Winchester and combine all of it into an I-184 or something.
I'll settle for it connecting to 10/202 across from the southwestern end of the 10/202/57 triplex.
I've used it quite a bit to get home from Springfield when I-91 or I-84 had roadwork in downtown Hartford. I would take MA 57 to MA/CT 187 to CT 189 to CT 218 and go through West Hartford to get to I-84. Also a nice bypass of the Big E area during September.
When I worked at SFNE it was the "other way home", if I didn't feel like getting stuck behind someone going five under the limit through Suffield.
MA 57 is one of the only highways I can think of in the region where one direction is exit only and the other direction is entrance only for MOST exits.
The US 5 and MA 57 freeways are basically distributors from 91 to West Springfield (US 5) and the west suburbs/Six Flags (MA 57).
They are also traffic nightmares as inbound 5 and 57 each squeeze down to a single lane before the routes come together
Quote from: jon daly on January 25, 2019, 03:02:44 PM
MA 57 is one of the only highways I can think of in the region where one direction is exit only and the other direction is entrance only for MOST exits.
Other than the I-84 and I-91 HOV lanes.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 03, 2019, 08:45:10 PM
Quote from: jon daly on January 25, 2019, 03:02:44 PM
MA 57 is one of the only highways I can think of in the region where one direction is exit only and the other direction is entrance only for MOST exits.
Other than the I-84 and I-91 HOV lanes.
I honestly don't see why those can't be converted into reversible HOT lanes. They could get some extra cash from the toll revenue.
^ Or just HO/T lanes in general. I don't think I'd convert them to reversible.
Quote from: froggie on February 04, 2019, 09:45:57 AM
^ Or just HO/T lanes in general. I don't think I'd convert them to reversible.
I don't believe there's enough room with the current ROW to do a minimum of a four-lane HOT section. Having them reversible keeps the cost down.
Having them reversible would also require completely redoing the median barrier as well as some of the overpasses, especially on I-91. Unless you eliminated the shoulder at those overpasses. FHWA would frown upon that.