Why are Maryland’s roads so bad?

[Anonymous]

I was in Maryland yesterday (Bethesda and Silver Spring) and was shocked at how decrepit the roads are. Huge potholes, poorly drawn or no lines in places, whole swaths of road patched together and left in awful condition. DC’s roads are bad too, but nowhere like this. What gives? The climate in MD isn’t any worse on roads than DC or VA and taxes are high. Why is driving in Maryland like driving on the surface of the moon?

[Anonymous]

This is relative. For example, have you been to PA lately?

[Anonymous]

Why is everything so bad in Maryland?

Democrats.

See also: California.

Everything they touch turns to poop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everything so bad in Maryland?

Democrats.

See also: California.

Everything they touch turns to poop.

Hm. That must be why no one wants to live in California.

[Anonymous]

I think it's because they never patch the roads around here. If you patch cracks, you extend the live of the road. They do this in abundance in places like Massachusetts, which sees a lot more snow and so would presumably see a lot more road damage, but doesn't. Instead, municipalities around here wait until a full-blown pothole appears before they even attempt to fix the road. It's already too late at that point.

[Anonymous]

I live a stone's throw from downtown Bethesda and confirm that roads around here are in worse condition than I remember them a decade ago.

I attribute this degradation to increased traffic on the roads because of sustained migration into the area, since MoCo and particularly Bethesda/Silver Spring, are considered desirable. Downtown Bethesda is a mess of intense construction efforts, and trundling heavy construction vehicles are the absolute worse thing for roads.

[Anonymous]

Are the roads good anywhere?

Seriously, I can't think of anywhere that has good roads these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the roads good anywhere?

Seriously, I can't think of anywhere that has good roads these days.

Right? Are the roads good in DC and NoVA? NOPE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's because they never patch the roads around here. If you patch cracks, you extend the live of the road. They do this in abundance in places like Massachusetts, which sees a lot more snow and so would presumably see a lot more road damage, but doesn't. Instead, municipalities around here wait until a full-blown pothole appears before they even attempt to fix the road. It's already too late at that point.

I was coming to respond that my extended family visits Maryland from Mass (suburbs of Boston) and always marvel at how good our roads are compared to what they are used to. I also think the Mass roads are pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

I live in NoVa and work in MD. I can absolutely confirm that the roads in VA are in far, far better shape than in MD. No clue why. Bad planning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the roads good anywhere?

Seriously, I can't think of anywhere that has good roads these days.

The roads in NoVa are quite nice in most places, except for where construction is active. Maryland is well below NoVa on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is relative. For example, have you been to PA lately?

Yes. Maryland roads are heavenly compared to PA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everything so bad in Maryland?

Democrats.

See also: California.

Everything they touch turns to poop.

uhhh, California has the 5th largest in the world (by GDP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is everything so bad in Maryland?

Democrats.

See also: California.

Everything they touch turns to poop.

Hm. That must be why no one wants to live in California.

Shades of Yogi Berra.

[Anonymous]

You’ve never been the Philadelphia area it seems. Awful!

My DH and I took a cross country road trip and we never realized how good our roads were until we got home.