I was recently on my way to downtown Worcester when I made a fateful mistake: I turned onto a hilly dirt road that connects two busier streets. A storm had passed through the day before, and the road looked plowed but still had a layer of snow and ice. I thought my sedan could make the climb.
It did — until it got stuck. I gently pushed on the throttle. Instead of going forward, I veered to the left, almost hitting a parked car. With no other option, I spent the next 10 minutes carefully backing down the street, hoping to escape without losing traction again.
Welcome to Baldwin Street.
It delights in tormenting drivers. Meghan Truitt lives on the road and remembers when an exposed sewer cap tore up the bottom of her Ford SUV.
“It was like $16,000 worth of damage,” Truitt said, noting insurance helped pay for the repairs. “I thought I missed the sewer cap by going around it. But you have to weave up the street, which is dangerous in and of itself.”
Baldwin Street is among 80 miles of private roads in Worcester that residents are responsible for maintaining — not the city — and they argue are too costly to upgrade. As a result, many are unpaved and in deplorable condition. When they’re not covered with snow and ice, they’re like a moonscape. Crater-sized potholes turn into ponds when it rains, sometimes leading to nightmares reminiscent of a slapstick Hollywood scene (Warning: salty language).
Ryan Massimino, who lives across the city on another dirt road, Wildey Avenue, said he often finds torn-off car parts when he walks outside.
“That’s the toll you pay to go up this road,” he said.
For unsuspecting drivers, the only warning is a small sign saying, “PRIVATE STREET DANGEROUS.”
Worcester officials say the roads are private because they were built over a century ago when landowners could divide their properties into new lots and streets. There were no requirements that the roads meet certain standards, like having a foundation and adequate drainage.
Fortunately today, compassionate neighbors like Stephen Rueda stand ready to help push and pull stranded cars to stable land. He said it’s “mind-blowing” that the second largest city in New England still has so many dirt roads.
“We’re not some little country town down the street where you have little roads,” he said. “We’re a city. Every road should be paved.”
Other big cities in Massachusetts have private roads too. Boston officials say the city has 83 miles, some of which are also crumbling and a source of residents’ ire. Springfield has about 80 miles, according to city officials.
“We’re not some little country town down the street where you have little roads. We’re a city. Every road should be paved.”Stephen Rueda, Worcester resident
Many communities have a process through which residents can ask that their private street become public. If their request is approved, the city must fix the road to modern standards and then maintain it. But how the repairs are funded varies by locality, and that affects whether the road conversions actually happen.
In Worcester, people who live on a private street bear the full cost of the repairs, which can be over $150 per foot. At that rate, the handful of homeowners on Baldwin Street would have to pay about $100,000 for their road to be converted. Residents say the price is too steep.
“With the cost of living where it’s at, there’s no way,” Truitt said. “We live in a paycheck-to-paycheck society.”
Boston, by contrast, covers half the cost of the road improvements. Springfield goes even further, paying the entire bill. The city’s public works director, Chris Cignoli, said Springfield has used about $3.5 million from municipal bonds to cover the repairs. That’s helped officials cut the number of private roads citywide by half since 2008, Cignoli said.
“It really then allows us to make as many people as possible happy,” he said.
Worcester Commissioner of Public Works and Parks John Westerling acknowledged the city’s process could be expensive for some residents. But officials try to be flexible by allowing homeowners to finance the road improvements over 20 years at low interest rates. And people 65 or older can defer the entire payment until after they sell their home.
City Councilor George Russell added that residents who live on private roads pay less in taxes because their properties are assessed at a lower value due to the road conditions. He said it wouldn’t be fair for people on public roads who pay more in taxes to bear the burden of addressing private streets.
Still, Russell — who calls private roads one of the most frustrating issues throughout his 14 years on City Council — said Worcester should be more creative dealing with them. He said the city could help fill potholes on the streets, or apply lower construction standards as a way of making the process less expensive.
“Do you need granite curbs? Do you need sidewalks all along, especially sidewalks on both sides? Do you need the lighting infrastructure?” he asked.
It’s not just Russell’s constituents pushing for a better solution. Russell knows from personal experience how destructive private roads in Worcester can be.
“There was a rock that punctured a hole in my oil pan in an old Chrysler convertible. All of a sudden there was oil all over the place,” said Russell, who had to have the car towed away.
Now whenever he knows he’ll drive on a private road, he tries to take his wife’s SUV.
