Photos of the Week: A Gallery of Amherst’s Decaying Infrastructure
Decaying rails on the bridge over the Fort River on Route 116 at Mill Lane. This photo was taken in August 2024. Photo: Rita Burke
Compiled by Art Keene
At the suggestion of Janet McGowan who sent in the first photos, we have compiled this gallery of photos depicting instances of decaying infrastructure in Amherst. We received many photos of potholes and decaying roadway from around town. They exhibit an interesting variety of form, depth, and obstruction but we have selected just a few to share here.
Our feature, Photo of the Week, presents each week, a new picture by a local photographer. We invite local photographers to share their photographs here. Please include a description/caption and an indication of who is to be credited.
Bridges / Roads / Sidewalks
Schools
DPW
Central Fire Station
While the photos below show the literal crumbing building itself, it doesn’t highlight the significant limitations it poses in terms of housing apparatus and firefighters. This station is nowhere near the size that is appropriate or needed to keep or maintain modern day fire apparatus. While fire trucks and ambulances are always “custom ordered” they become even more custom for us as we have to make further modifications to make sure they fit in the very narrow bay doors. In addition, there is only one shower for all employees. We are also incredibly tight for space on storing our turnout gear and even more tight on places to store our EMS supplies. While cancer rates amongst firefighters are increasing, we have very limited resources to quickly decontaminate after incidents with exposure to any number of chemicals. This is truly just a very brief summary of the conditions at central. Amherst Firefighters Local 1764
Brilliant! “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Fire fighters literally put their lives on the line with every 911 response. My daughter is a rescue paramedic with FDNY (Fire Department of the City of New York). She has mourned more than one FDNY colleague killed in the line of duty. The Town of Amherst must make safe working conditions and up-to-date facilities for its fire fighters/paramedics a top priority.
It always amazes me how those who put their lives on the line (even those who routinely handle the dangerous chemicals necessary to ensure clean water) to provide us all with the services we expect, if not need. Yet they are often the unseen until we have a crisis or complaint.
What, no photo of degraded University Avenue from Amity Street southward? How about all the treeless sidewalk cutouts on North & South Pleasant Street? Why weren’t trees replaced? I’ve a hunch none of this would have been allowed to happen if Amherst kept its Town Meeting format.
Has anyone ever heard the metaphor, “The ship is sinking and they are painting the sails”?
Perhaps this applies to some spending priorities in town?
It should be noted for those unaware…as with the Fire Station, the spaces shown and many others inside the DPW building are those in which people actually spend their workdays and nights.
Some desks (salvaged and shared) at the DPW are located in the garage. Buckets, jackets, and employee’s boots stand ready nearby for the common occurrences of roof leaks which cause water to puddle at their feet and run down through ceiling light fixtures and along electrical outlets. There is little to no HVAC in the garage, and the rampant black mold (a known carcinogen) is quite possibly a contributing cause of respiratory issues routinely suffered by a number of employees.
As a naysayer regarding the Jones Library Plan, I challenge those in favor of it to consider which town work places are truly at a critical point of disrepair. And, more importantly, which town employees are most at risk working in theirs.
Forgive me, but something seems off here. The powers that be are planning an oversized, overpriced library to, in essence, replace the current library where employees have to suffer through occasional leaks in the atrium ceiling, an elevator malfunction, and less than ideal sight lines. This instead of replacing, at lower cost, two buildings where employees have been working in extreme conditions for three decades. Is there a class issue at play here?
Speaking of University Drive ….
I had the bad luck to hit a large deer after Thanksgiving last year, just a bit past the light on 116 in North Amherst, heading south. It was dark, traffic was whizzing by, and it felt too dangerous to wait for a tow. My car was heavily damaged but still running, so I decided to try to limp home. I took the exit to UMass, then turned south, past all the parking lots, keeping my eye on the temperature gauge. All of a sudden I thought I’d blown a tire. Then I looked at where I was: University Drive. You guessed it: It wasn’t me, I was just having the usual pleasure of driving on an unmistakably Amherst road.
Unfortunately “painting the sails” is not merely figurative: according to a presentation by the landscape architects at a recent AHC meeting on the Jones Library demolition delay, they’re literally choosing colors
Purple and White
for the new hydrangeas to be planted out front. A mere coincidence?
https://www.amherst.edu/news/communications/visual-identity-toolkit/colors
These photos are so important for all of us to see. Almost all residents, myself included, have no access to these buildings so to see these conditions is very moving. Residents should contact or message their representatives to ask what is being done to address the Fire and DPW needs.
Rob, that’s what I wondered straight away. But, given the money being spent planning and that everyone knows pink, or blue hydrangeas go with and stand out better against gray stone…coincidence seems unlikely (smiley face).
Now we can add the purpling of Amherst to the marooning of Amherst, and so much for the greening of Amherst. And, oddly, according to the “Google”, if you mix purple, maroon and white together, you get a “dark, moderate red”. Seems apt, No?
Thanks Rob and Rita for picking up on the color code which didn’t strike me as so appropriate until you pointed it out! Maybe maroon mums in the fall for the rest of us plebes?
essential priorities for our town to address!!!
“ Is there a class issue at play here? “
Always has been Rita. There are good people in this town that understand the good work DPW and Fire Departments do. The buildings they all work in were a mess when I started in 1975, except for the new offices built for Management. Personally I gave up caring about that and the just okay pay because what I cared about at the time was retiring with decent health insurance and family security. That I commend the Town for.
But the handling of this oversized, costly Library is a slap in the face to the other two departments. It’s getting hard to believe that this Town Manager and the Town Council members care much for the older long term residents. You never hear them say so. Zero help with our 9 months of student hell that partied next to us and if they cared, they would understand that we’re not all rich like them and can’t keep absorbing these tax increases that are coming. We haven’t even seen the School increase yet. All this infilling and higher buildings going in were pitched as a way that would bring lower tax. Hopefully they become successful with that some day.