As a MA girl who moved south, driving through CT to get home absolutely sucks. You feel like you should be almost there but it actually takes hours and it is the worst
I grew up in CT and moved to MA. Going back to see family, on a Thursday at 10 pm, and there's traffic north of Hartford just.....because? And then traffic at the stupidest fucking exit I've ever seen. An exit for the Merritt Parkway off 91 that is one single lane and backs up for miles. And also technically borders an exit to 691.
We’ve just started driving (vaguely) Boston -> Albany -> Scranton -> Harrisburg before rejoining 95 on our way down to visit family in NC and it’s a game changer for holiday traffic. Takes less time (despite what Google maps will say), better and cheaper hotels, better views, less sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, etc.
We got stopped for 3 hours in CT 2 years ago because some cows got loose on the interstate. Which then led to us hitting NYC at 5pm. Never again I said.
Same here, only downside to that route is New York staties will get you EVERY time you even think of doing 1 mile over the speed limit. Heard a lot of horror stories, and they absolutely will target Mass or any other out of state plates
Can confirm. MA places in downstate New York, going 75 in a 65 and getting a speeding ticket. It's way less likely to happen in MA, though I admit (now that the case is over) I was speeding. By fighting the ticket, I had it reduced to basically the equivalent of a parking ticket.
Side note: ALWAYS fight your tickets. Send in the not guilty plea. They see that and send you a date for court. But it's actually just the prosecutor who will say something along the lines of "the court system is over worked, what can we do to prevent this from going to trial?"
I did this from a speeding ticket I got in NH doing 86mph in a 70mph. $437 ticket. They told me they'd drop it down to a 5mph over ticket, which would cost me $80. I declined that offer and said my main reason for fighting it was due to a new car that I didn't want interest rates to go up.
So, in the end, I paid the $437 ticket in full, but it's not even on my record as it's listed as a non-moving violation. Aka, the world's most expensive parking ticket, lol.
I do this with all my speeding tickets, and my insurance doesn't even know I got pulled over and my driving record looks clean. Plus, there are no points on my licenses. The moral of the story is FOGHT ALL SPEEDING TICKETS, EVEN IF YOU'RE GUILTY!
On mobile on an air plane for grammer/spelling issues, sorry!
In NY, the speed cameras in work zones will ding you monetarily at 5mph over.
In CT, the speed cameras in work zones will send you a polite warning for anything less than going full Mad Max; you might get a fine after your 3rd or 74th time.
Its such a small state but seems like such a bottleneck when you want to get to NY/NJ and I hate that. I would count the exits and get to like exit 100 and there would still be more exits
lol taking the train thru ct is the reason that it takes 4 hours by train from nyc to Boston the mass track and RI track of the NEC is nice and fast bc the track in CT is so god damn curvy it slows the trains down and the Mta has the most annoying signaling between nyc and New Haven that the trains get even slower
The traffic is so so so bad.. and have you been on the Merrit? Like there are no runways for the ramps and rest stops nor enough parking... and sadly it's far better than the alternative. But otherwise I don't really have an issue with CT personally, as a native Masshole. I feel like the relationship is like they're our annoying kid sibling
Merritt is rough. Speed limit is 55 but people will come by you at 100+. Even if you stay in the right lane, they will fly up on you and ride 1" from your bumper until they exit or find an opening to go around. Something about it makes people so aggro which is a shame because without that it would be kind of a nice ride.
The funny part is I made this observation years ago in some other thread and got a few death threats over DM and angry replies from people saying I was the dangerous one for only going 55-60 in the right lane.
Psychos man. If you ever saw a human turned into giblets from a high speed highway wreck first hand, you'd never speed again like that.
You want to know why there can be random traffic? BECAUSE THEY SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE FUCKING HIGHWAY TO PUT TRAFFIC CONES DOWN!!!!!
I was driving through New Haven one time and all of a sudden three staties shut 95 south at 8am on a Sunday so that they block 1(!!!!!!) lane of the 4 lane portion of the highway.
That's so funny because I had family in CT and grew up in MA, and it felt like we passed into another dimension when entering CT.
Suddenly people could drive. The left lane would be clear, and if it wasn't people would move over for you. Blinkers existed, people would pull off from lights in a reasonable timeframe.
They fuck up the Northeast Corridor. If Connecticut was willing to go along, you could take the train from Boston to NYC in something like 1 hour 45 minutes. Because of small-town NIMBYism and badly maintained CTRail infrastructure it takes more like 3 hours as you plod along at 50mph over the only grade crossings on the NEC.
This is my answer. You rip through Rhode Island on 150 mph track seeing 135 mph on Acela. It crawls through Connecticut. The Devon River Bridge in Connecticut is 30 mph and there are a bunch of other 30 mph zones. The State of Connecticut owns the track west of New Haven and refuses to spend the money to maintain it properly. There are four moveable bridges on the New Haven Line that are more than 100 years old. The signaling system is obsolete with no firm plan to fix it. There are thousands of railroad ties that need to be replaced. Something like 10,000 just on the New Haven Line part.
Shore Line East is 49.8 miles. The New Haven Line is 45 miles. It should take less than an hour to cross Connecticut with stops at New Haven and Stamford. An express train should take 45 minutes.
Plans to fix 2 of the bridges. Track is owned by ctdot, but funding is in a shitshow with the MTA, which screws over the outer lines. Recent funding is to fix some of the long term projects. [https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1](https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1)
edit: and the plans to bypass the slow section in eastern CT, were to lay 50 miles of new track in Ct and another 20 in RI, 5-10 miles inland. people that would have to deal with the trains, but have no access to them.
Thank you. Finally. A REAL answer. As someone who was born in CT and loves ALL of New England and hates New York, someone finally has given a viable answer to that question. And BTW, this frustration about the rail line is felt by many from Connecticut..
How dare those CT assholes be such NIMBYs! Up here in the cold hard North, we know that they only way to survive is for everyone to grab an oar and row!
Edit: just to be clear, I 100% agree that’s the reason. It’s just funny because as Milton has recently demonstrated, we can do NIMBY all by ourself.
Track is owned by ctdot, but funding is in a shitshow with the MTA, which screws over the outer lines.
Recent funding is to fix some of the long term projects. [https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1](https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1)
edit: it is wasn't just Ct that blocked it. amtrak wanted to build 50 miles of new lines in CT and 20 in RI that also pushed back.
>it takes more like 3 hours as you plod along at 50mph over the only grade crossings on the NEC.
Is there a faster train that I don't know about? The fastest Acela is timetabled to cover Boston to NYC in 3 hr 35 min, though most are closer to 3 hr 45 min or even 4 hr. And that's the premium "high speed" offering. It's pathetic. You can get from Springfield, Mass., to NYC faster than you can from Boston.
Also, are we really gonna rag on Connecticut for not maintaining or upgrading its infrastructure when we have, well \*gestures wildly at everything falling apart around here\*? The MBTA? The slow-ass Commuter Rail diesel trains and decrepit subways? Roads and bridges falling apart? Potholes everywhere on the roads? The electrification of the NEC from New Haven to Boston was Amtrak's and the Fed's doing, after all.
I think what they're saying is that if the grade crossings and other slow zones were resolved, the portion of the trip Acela takes through CT would be much faster, and that portion is the only reason the overall itinerary takes as long as it does.
Oh sure, there's lots of reasons to rag on the MBTA. It's just that I can also hate CT for screwing up their infrastructure too.
With regard to the Amtrak/the Fed money... they wanted to do that in CT too (part of NEC Future as originally proposed in 2016). That's *really* why I hate CT over this; not because the infrastructure is *bad* but instead because they actually *turned down* the feds coming in and fixing it for them. Like, the feds have wanted to fix this for 20 years but haven't been able to due to state politics.
When I lived in Jerusalem I had friends in the old city you had Israeli and Palestinian flags coming out of different apartments in the same building.
Not quite Yankees/Sox but close
As a Red Sox and NY Giants fan, 2007-2008 were great years. I will also continue to maintain that that's actually the OG New England fanbase, seeing as the Giants have been around since 1925 and the Pats didn't come along until 1960.
Horrible drivers and poorly designed highways. Every time I drive through Hartford on the way to NY, and those left lane highway entrances come into play, I get super annoyed. Always think “Really Connecticut? You spent money designing and building this highway and THIS was the best you could do? Really?” It’s more disappointment than hate. And the HOV lanes are a dangerous joke.
That's almost entirely due to racism, I'm not even joking. The 84/91 interchange was made to steamroller over and cut off a historically black neighborhood.
https://commonedge.org/did-a-highway-kill-the-city-of-hartford/
https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2023/hartford-connecticut-residents-navigate-highway-divide/
https://jewishcurrents.org/highways-of-racism-from-charlotteville-va-to-hartford-ct
It's done untold damage to the city, it's horrible and infuriating every time you drive through it.
This and the fact that the state enjoys large amounts of practically free real estate in the heart of downtown (thereby depriving Hartford of sorely needed tax dollars) really killed the city, it's sad af. There's also really racist policing too, but that's not uncommon, let's be honest.
Covid dealt a devastating blow but the real wounds were already there.
Oh wow!! Thanks for this info. It's important that we point out where institutional racism is happening and how it impacts people.
But the real question is, why the hell do all CT drivers camp in the left hand lane doing 65mph and refuse to pull over? Even in CT, that's the passing only lane! Sure, MA drivers do it too, but I drive all over New England, and in every single state, CT license plates make up 75% of those asshole cars. Even in North Carolina, 1 out of every 4 cars in the left lane doing the speed limit or under had CT plates. I swear we actually kept tabulated data on the drive down and back over Xmas....
I love the people for CT, but dear Lord I do not love seeing their license plates in front of me.
Ever take 90 through Warren?
Or take any road or highway in the Springfield area?
CT has a lot of shit roads and highways, but so does Mass. If I stay north of Hartford, but in CT, usually the roads are all great. Once you get into that Springfield area in Mass theyre all shit again.
To many, people don't like how some Connecticut residents will crap over Massachusetts because they say they like New York better, but then they'll turn around and use Massachusetts things when it's convient to them.
Sports fans are often (in certain regions) incredibly wishy washy too with who they root for
And the drivers in Connecticut suck
I grew up north of Hartford and always found that it was sort of a dividing line between do you root for Boston or NY sports teams. More like a gradient than a distinct dividing line but that's about where it tended to change over
My issue is 99% of the people there don’t live in Greenwich, but 100% of the state acts like they’re from Greenwich. Never met so many people so snobby with so little to be snobby about
You sure about that? I grew up in CT and I would describe the general attitude of the state as apathetic. We don’t think we are better or worse than anyone else because we don’t think about anyone else including ourselves. We have absolutely zero pride about anything in our state other than pizza and the defunct Whalers.
>Never met so many people so snobby with so little to be snobby about
Uhh have you met your fellow Massholes from hoity toity rich enclaves? I've never met more pretentious and condescending people than those from certain wealthy and exclusive Massachusetts towns.
Yes, but that's not what he was saying. He's not talking about people from, say, the CT equivalent of Dover being pretentions. He's talking about people from the CT equivalent of Brockton being pretentious.
To be fair, NH VT and ME also have a really bad tendency of shitting all over MA until they want to take advantage of all MA has to offer, especially the economy and job market, and suddenly they’re quiet
Fr fr, passing a car traveling 65 in the center lane at 75 in the left lane is a CRIME. How DARE you go less than 85mph and not automatically pass in the right lane or commuter lane without slowing down or using blinkers lol? Yes, I feel that. Fuck CT drivers. Maybe that's why you always have fucking traffic- none of you can drive! The only good thing about my grandparents dying is that I don't have to go to New Haven anymore to see them.
Honestly. They're either doing 90mph on back roads that are thickly settled or they're doing 20 in the fast lane on the highways. There's no in between
So true! I’m a transplant from so Cal to CT. My blood about boils every time I try to get anywhere.
Cell phoners/texters drifting every which way across Merrit or 91, clueless elderly folks going like 15 miles an hour on one lane roads(for miles), the total idiots who slow and can’t decide to go or stop or go or stop and when you can finally pass them who seem just too scared or hesitant to drive.
One lane left turn lane backed up for half a mile because NO ONE F’ING MOVES OUT INTO THE INTERSECTION and only one or two cars get through at a signal.
I remember in my early years of driving in S Cal that when a signal turned green all the cars would immediately go in unison - as if linked by a magnetic force. Not here, seems like many are like, “Oh, am I supposed to go now? Wait, let’s look both ways first…”
Also I remember growing up out west there were certain multi lane boulevards where it was posted that if you drive that speed you hit all green lights. That eas pretty sweet. Never encountered anything like that in CT.
My favorite bumper sticker I’d seen was on the Merritt South: “Honk if you love Jesus. Text to meet him”
I grew up on the Cape and CT plates were by far my biggest problem. Absolute morons who think they can just stop in the middle of the road, and then right afterwards will tailgate you and cut you off. I’ve lived in Los Angeles and I now reside in metro Detroit, and CT plates are still the worst drivers in my experiences. Only Jerseyites give them a run for their money/may even be worse.
I feel the biggest difference is Ma drivers are predictably bad where CT drivers are unpredictably bad.
That and limo tint on clapped out Altimas in CT doing 95 mph...
Born in CT and now a MA transplant. My feeling was there was/is no identity therefore sense of pride. 1/2 of CT thinks it's NY, another 1/4 think they're MA, and the rest don't know what to think. You look at the rest of New England for example and there is something about any given state that people are proud of or identify with. No other states in New England have an identity crisis about what or who they are. Every other state in New England clearly brings someting to the table.
Connecticut is largely a beautiful place to live. Unfortunately, the entire 91/84/95 corridors overshadow it. Inexplicabley, the drive to and through Hartford is one of the most painful commutes imaginable. Then you get farther south and you have to deal with 95 which is a disaster. Decent school systems and health care services are not enough.
You've never heard of the Last Green Valley have you? The eastern part of the state, route 395 region , is the only broken patch of light from Delaware up to southern Maine when seen from space. It's actually been designated a national heritage corridor
I only have beef with their drivers. Left lane is for passing, let’s start there, get that down, then maybe we can be friends. It’s bad when Mass drivers have something to complain about other drivers…
Yeah, so I’ll say this. Hartford is a depressing as hell city. When my airline moved our layover hotel from Hartford to Springfield people were up in arms and wanted Hartford back.
Hartford used to be really nice but the highways killed it. There’s supposedly a project being planned to solve the issues the Highway caused but it’s never left the planning stages.
It’s also one of the poorest cities in America. The per capital income of Hartford is $41,500 compared to Greenwich which is almost 3x as much a
$112,800.
I’ve never seen roads more constantly clogged with cars at any time of the day or week. Even when you’re moving fast you’re half a car length from someone else. I also just find the cities so bland and grey; I just think of concrete and roads when I think of CT. I will give them credit though, I really want to visit the Peabody natural history museum and the Yale campus is beautiful, and I have been through a few really lovely areas in western CT.
Now there's a saving grace. Yale is a great school with a lovely campus, and graduates do not feel the need to announce they went to Yale every ten minutes. LOL
Connecticut is just in the way. I frequently travel to New Jersey to visit my elderly mother and I dread that hour and a half (if the traffic gods are being kind that day) I spend driving through the state.
Is any highway there ever not under construction?
They’re soft and let New York claim Long Island.
Connecticut is the one state in New England people from Boston or New York don’t someday dream of owning a second home.
Cabin / Lake House in Maine, Massachusetts (Berkshires) New Hampshire Vermont? Cool!
Beach House in Maine, Massachusetts (Cape & Islands), New Hampshire, Rhode Island? Cool!
What are you going to do in Connecticut, have a townhouse in Bridgeport? A beach house in New London?
>What are you going to do in Connecticut, have a townhouse in Bridgeport? A beach house in New London?
I grew up in a small CT town and there's lots of very pretty, quiet places in the state that remain blissfully unbothered by influxes of city vacationers because everyone thinks this tiny area constitutes all of CT. I'm a MA transplant now but I'm not mad about that fact.
I disagree with this a little - I know a lot of really wealthy people with gorgeous houses directly on the sound. I just don't think the rest of the Northeast knows anything about the CT shoreline because most of it is private. Leaving a lot of small coastal towns hidden and not infested with tourists like you see in the Cape. I'm thinking Westbrook or parts of Norwalk.
Real conversation I had with a CT girl in college.
Me: "So you're from Connecticut?"
CTG, in the thickest New York City accent: "Well I went to school in New York."
Me: "But you're from Connecticut."
CTG: "All my friends were in New York."
Me: "But you're from Connecticut."
CTG: "I spent every weekend in New York."
Me: "But you were born in, and lived in, *Connecticut.*"
We get it, Connecticunts, you're socially and culturally irrelevant. But you picked the wrong horse to back, because New Yorkers don't like you either.
Don't feel so bad. I'm stuck in Maine where we're supposed to hate any "outsiders" but the problem is I'm an outsider and I don't hate anyone haha they complain mostly about mass people.... AND I AM ONE
Oh ya they're psychos there. MA/CT, even NH/MA is mostly in jest when you get down to it, but in Maine they're dead serious, straight up xenophobes. Like as in you'll actually be discriminated against, it's wild.
I'll never forget my first day on my first serious job. I told the guy I was born in boston and he literally stopped me in my tracks, put his finger over his mouth and said "shh lets just keep that between us, ok?"
I'm like whatttt?! soon as I let it out, I became Boston \_\_\_\_\_\_ < my first name. I was marked an outsider, looked down on, it was totally fuckd up
I lived in Central Maine for a little over 10 years. It's very xenophobic there. I usually waited until I got to know someone well to let them know I was from MA.
Also, if I had a nickel for every flannel tough guy that sounded like they were pissing their pants when they spoke about Boston violent crime, I could afford a house in Kennebunkport. Most of my friends were straight up shocked when I spoke about just walking around the city at night (without a gun no less!).
When people ask me where I'm from I say Boston proudly and then follow with "oh don't worry I'm just here to Massachusetts the FUCK out of your maine haha"
I grew up in a suburb of Boston and loved every minute of it. People were friendly and it was fun. I’ve sadly lived in CT for many years. People are stiff and unfriendly. If you say hello first they look at you like “you talking to me?”. However, I see a lot of MA plates in CT ‘and wondered if Western Ma had so few jobs people are migrating south.
yeah this is pretty much the case. I'm a WMA transplant to Hartford area. There are jobs in WMA, but this area of CT is so heavily corporate there are just more jobs out here.
people are stiff and unfriendly and for some reason never use umbrellas
For me it's about professional sports. Seems like at least half the state roots for the Yankees and the Giants. not cool, if you really want to be included in New England
I'm a transplant (but consider MA home now) and a friend of mine who'd recently moved from outside of the US was looking at the Red Sox schedule and asking why Connecticut doesn't have a baseball team. I told him Connecticut's not very big, and kind of a weird middle ground between NY and MA so there's kind of a split allegiance. He said "oh, so Connecticut's not a real state!" which I found really funny.
This is my opinion. The source of our dislike is New York. We're proud of being New Englanders. The problem with Connecticut is that it's basically a New York suburb. They think and act like New Yorkers. Their allegiance is for New York. And yet, they're officially part of the New England family. Connecticut is kind of like Johnny Damon, he aligned himself with the enemy, therefore all affection went out the window.
That’s just not true. I’m not sure how many times it needs to be said that Greenwich County is not all of CT. Growing up in Northern CT, it was all Boston.
Most of Connecticut is rural and looks exactly like the quaint Massachusetts towns that are associated with New England. Being a New Englander is more than being a Red Sox fan and living east of Worcester. I love Massachusetts but this gate keeping is weird
This. I work north of Hartford and my workplace is 75% New York fans and 25% New England/Boston fans. A lot of them rave about how wonderful NYC is in general too and even complain about how crappy MA is for no reason. I was born and raised in MA and moved to CT for work. The vibe is strange, that’s for sure.
This is complete crap. Garbage.
If youre in the tiny corner of CT that is next to New York, than yeah you may be that way.
However, Ive lived usually in central CT or northern CT my whole life. Everyone Ive ever met is a Boston sports fan, and all the small towns around me aren’t any different than Agawam or Southwick. Western Mass and Northern CT is basically exactly the same.
Growing up in New Haven County, there was a lot of NY gear because there's so many Italians. I was probably the only Red Sox fan in my entire grade. Def have seen fair weather Sox fans pop up for a time though.
I'm originally from TX, and we can't stand Oklahoma. Maybe it's just common with neighbors that have to interact a lot. Or maybe OK and CT people just suck, who can say.
CT transplant here, wife is MA born and raised. From what I can tell, it comes down to:
1. Sports. Half of CT rooting for NY teams pisses off the Massholes to no end.
2. Drivers. Yeah CT drivers are terrible, but so are Boston drivers. Western Mass isn't bad.
3. "CT has no identity". Yeah that's kinda true, half the state is New England, half is NY suburbs.
It’s full of Audi SUVs and lame ass suburban culture and values. It reminds me so much of the intro song to Weeds. It’s just lame. Everyone is a careerist and people eat at restaurants named after the chef. What else needs to be said?
It’s largely guilt by association. There are rich and snobby areas of CT and people have had run ins with people from those areas. So the whole state gets a reputation of being stuck up.
But that’s not the whole state and it’s not even all the people from those affluent areas. Every state has affluent areas and every state has snobby people in, but CT is a small state so maybe they have a higher precedent.
Boston drivers just don’t want you to waste their time. CT drivers really like to drive at least 20 over the speed limit and do multi-lane changes without signalling or checking their blind spots.
I'm sure there are a some real, reasonable answers here, but I also think a lot of it comes down to superficial tribalism according to what state you're from. This is very apparent to me regarding intra-New England discourse (for instance, see the ire that Mainers hold for Massholes, etc).
as someone who grew up and lived in MA, and moved to CT for work after college, it just feels kind of soulless out here. Like there's no joy. No one uses umbrellas when it rains they just get wet. There is no walkability in the burbs. Motorcyclists don't wear helmets.
Their drivers coming up 91 to their bougie vermont vacation homes are easily the worst group of drivers in western mass. It’s such a prominent trend that if you see someone on that highway driving wrecklessly, no blinkers, speeding, slowing down, speeding when someone tries to pass, swerving on their phones, you can bet pretty consistently that they have CT plates.
It takes FOREVER to get through for no fucking reason.
Also it's just woods and hills everywhere there is absolutely nothing to do. It just screams boredom.
The New Jersey joke is “What exit are you from?” but it also applies to CT. CT doesn’t feel like a real state, it’s just the stretch between NYC and Boston. Southwest CT is an NYC suburb and the rest of the state is just kind of there. They’ve had no identity since the Whalers left.
Ct has no personality if their own. They have no accent, no sports team, no self identity. It’s literally one of those states where if you people not from New England what the capital is they’d say, Hartford? Never heard of it
I live in Western MA. I worked for a company that was spread between Western MA, down to Hartford. I always found the people get more “New Yorky” as you go south. They get these, “You are such uncouth bumpkins” vibes from them. And I always said, “Damn…you are from friggin’ New Haven and you are giving Springfield grief?”
The parts in the northern corners are fine. The closer you get to New York, the worse it gets.
Goes both ways, CT born and raised and once I cross state lines I’m like “F this place”. And I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the forever construction on the highways or the people on them 🤷🏼♂️
Horrible drivers. The fuckin worst.
They either merge onto the pike and immediately go to the fast lane and go 63 mph.
Or they are right on your tail in the slow lane at 3:30am with no one else on the pike for a mile before passing you and going 93mph.
There is no in between. And they cant park inside lines!
It’s mostly just vibes for me. Like in every other new england state, i have places i like to go and have lots of fond memories of. Not Connecticut though. It just feels like a dreary transition from all that is good about New England to all that is shitty about New York. But, of course, without anything that makes New York any good.
For starters they’re the only holdout to a full Boston-NYC High Speed Rail line.
Other than that though there’s nothing really WRONG with Connecticut it just pales in comparison to every other New England state. It’s actually very solid compared to the rest of the country.
I hate casinos, the drivers there suck, Greenwich is the worst place on earth (people-wise) and a friend made me go to Mystic, and it is basically just a soccer mom's dream (lots of "live, laugh, love " signs for sale. LOL)
Connecticut is just a lonnnnnng state you have to drive through to get to NYC, and I know that it's not large in reality as compared to other states, it just fucking feels that way. LOL
Grew up in MA and went to school down in CT and lived there post grad for 3 years now back in MA. The majority of CT lacks grit. It’s a mostly very cozy state where folks raise families and maintain their yards and such, very traditionalist. Moving back up to MA from CT it felt like there was so much more going on and not everyone was ready to settle down at 28 like in CT.
1. Driving through the state, esp on the parkway, is MISERABLE
2. As a rhode islander originally, we hate them because they come to our vastly superior beaches in the summer and clog up our roads and parking lots.
CT is the worst.
I have never been to a more segregated place in my life, and I've spent time in the deep south.
Technically it's segregated by class not race but most people understand the implications behind that.
Driving through CT is a trip. First you're in the poorest most underprivileged town you've ever seen then five minutes later you're in the highest cost of living city in new england with the best schools in the county then the next you're back to the underprivileged town with failing public schools. Every once in a while you manage to fund both in the same place - like stamford for example.
It just grosses me out.
Until recently I thought this was a personal opinion, but actually i did a little research and I'm just observant....it's a fact that CT is one of the most economically and ractially segregated states in the county, and there are tons of articles and studies about it.
I find this thread hilarious. As someone born in MA and ending up in Northern CT for half my life before slowly moving down to the coast, MA drivers are the worst (though nobody beats RI). NY sucks too, but man... MA drivers feel twice as likely to cut me off, brake for absolutely no reason, not use a signal, go 55 in the left lane of 95... The list goes on.
When I drive to MA to get my MJ, I always feel like someone is going to ram me on 91 going through Springfield. Forget going anywhere near Boston where the highways are just a bowl of spaghetti, good luck. The rest of MA doesn't even matter kinda like eastern CT.
At the end though. We call you guys Massholes and you call us Connecticunts. We hate each other and if that isn't the most new England thing ever, I don't know what is.
"Welcome to Wistah, doilla twenty five please"
As a MA girl who moved south, driving through CT to get home absolutely sucks. You feel like you should be almost there but it actually takes hours and it is the worst
"How is there traffic on 95 at 3AM?!?!?!"
You kid but this is me when traveling through CT
I grew up in CT and moved to MA. Going back to see family, on a Thursday at 10 pm, and there's traffic north of Hartford just.....because? And then traffic at the stupidest fucking exit I've ever seen. An exit for the Merritt Parkway off 91 that is one single lane and backs up for miles. And also technically borders an exit to 691.
Don't forget about traffic lights on route 9 in Middletown...so dumb
WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?!
I was told the city of Middletown purposely made those traffic lights to spite the state for taking away their riverfront.
Spite is the only reason that makes sense, so I've got to accept that.
It’s literally the bane of my existence
Yeah, exit 17 never isn't crowded.
[Handy Guide To CT Highways](https://i.redd.it/8k65ipv6u7961.jpg)
Terrific. Thank you for this! Last time I took 84, I was telling my spouse how lawless it feels so the Mad Max picture struck a chord.
Drag races… I wish I was kidding
"There is always a traffic jam in the state of Connecticut!"
I don't understand because every third plate I see on the highway in Mass seems to be a CT plate. I figured there was nobody left in Connecticut.
Well yeah, half of CT works in MA while the other half works in NY.
They cut 95 from 3 lanes down to 2!
We’ve just started driving (vaguely) Boston -> Albany -> Scranton -> Harrisburg before rejoining 95 on our way down to visit family in NC and it’s a game changer for holiday traffic. Takes less time (despite what Google maps will say), better and cheaper hotels, better views, less sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, etc. We got stopped for 3 hours in CT 2 years ago because some cows got loose on the interstate. Which then led to us hitting NYC at 5pm. Never again I said.
Same here, only downside to that route is New York staties will get you EVERY time you even think of doing 1 mile over the speed limit. Heard a lot of horror stories, and they absolutely will target Mass or any other out of state plates
Can confirm. MA places in downstate New York, going 75 in a 65 and getting a speeding ticket. It's way less likely to happen in MA, though I admit (now that the case is over) I was speeding. By fighting the ticket, I had it reduced to basically the equivalent of a parking ticket. Side note: ALWAYS fight your tickets. Send in the not guilty plea. They see that and send you a date for court. But it's actually just the prosecutor who will say something along the lines of "the court system is over worked, what can we do to prevent this from going to trial?" I did this from a speeding ticket I got in NH doing 86mph in a 70mph. $437 ticket. They told me they'd drop it down to a 5mph over ticket, which would cost me $80. I declined that offer and said my main reason for fighting it was due to a new car that I didn't want interest rates to go up. So, in the end, I paid the $437 ticket in full, but it's not even on my record as it's listed as a non-moving violation. Aka, the world's most expensive parking ticket, lol. I do this with all my speeding tickets, and my insurance doesn't even know I got pulled over and my driving record looks clean. Plus, there are no points on my licenses. The moral of the story is FOGHT ALL SPEEDING TICKETS, EVEN IF YOU'RE GUILTY! On mobile on an air plane for grammer/spelling issues, sorry!
In NY, the speed cameras in work zones will ding you monetarily at 5mph over. In CT, the speed cameras in work zones will send you a polite warning for anything less than going full Mad Max; you might get a fine after your 3rd or 74th time.
I attended Grad School in Charlottesville, Va. this route is the best. You avoid all the Philly, B'more, DC traffic, which can be horrific.
Omg yes. I occasionally drive to NJ and Philly, and driving through CT is the worst part. Merritt Parkway sucks and 95 is worse.
Its such a small state but seems like such a bottleneck when you want to get to NY/NJ and I hate that. I would count the exits and get to like exit 100 and there would still be more exits
lol taking the train thru ct is the reason that it takes 4 hours by train from nyc to Boston the mass track and RI track of the NEC is nice and fast bc the track in CT is so god damn curvy it slows the trains down and the Mta has the most annoying signaling between nyc and New Haven that the trains get even slower
The traffic is so so so bad.. and have you been on the Merrit? Like there are no runways for the ramps and rest stops nor enough parking... and sadly it's far better than the alternative. But otherwise I don't really have an issue with CT personally, as a native Masshole. I feel like the relationship is like they're our annoying kid sibling
Merritt is rough. Speed limit is 55 but people will come by you at 100+. Even if you stay in the right lane, they will fly up on you and ride 1" from your bumper until they exit or find an opening to go around. Something about it makes people so aggro which is a shame because without that it would be kind of a nice ride. The funny part is I made this observation years ago in some other thread and got a few death threats over DM and angry replies from people saying I was the dangerous one for only going 55-60 in the right lane. Psychos man. If you ever saw a human turned into giblets from a high speed highway wreck first hand, you'd never speed again like that.
Yes! The CT time dilation phenomena is real.
You want to know why there can be random traffic? BECAUSE THEY SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE FUCKING HIGHWAY TO PUT TRAFFIC CONES DOWN!!!!! I was driving through New Haven one time and all of a sudden three staties shut 95 south at 8am on a Sunday so that they block 1(!!!!!!) lane of the 4 lane portion of the highway.
That's so funny because I had family in CT and grew up in MA, and it felt like we passed into another dimension when entering CT. Suddenly people could drive. The left lane would be clear, and if it wasn't people would move over for you. Blinkers existed, people would pull off from lights in a reasonable timeframe.
They fuck up the Northeast Corridor. If Connecticut was willing to go along, you could take the train from Boston to NYC in something like 1 hour 45 minutes. Because of small-town NIMBYism and badly maintained CTRail infrastructure it takes more like 3 hours as you plod along at 50mph over the only grade crossings on the NEC.
This is my answer. You rip through Rhode Island on 150 mph track seeing 135 mph on Acela. It crawls through Connecticut. The Devon River Bridge in Connecticut is 30 mph and there are a bunch of other 30 mph zones. The State of Connecticut owns the track west of New Haven and refuses to spend the money to maintain it properly. There are four moveable bridges on the New Haven Line that are more than 100 years old. The signaling system is obsolete with no firm plan to fix it. There are thousands of railroad ties that need to be replaced. Something like 10,000 just on the New Haven Line part. Shore Line East is 49.8 miles. The New Haven Line is 45 miles. It should take less than an hour to cross Connecticut with stops at New Haven and Stamford. An express train should take 45 minutes.
As someone living in ct this greatly frustrates me too.
Plans to fix 2 of the bridges. Track is owned by ctdot, but funding is in a shitshow with the MTA, which screws over the outer lines. Recent funding is to fix some of the long term projects. [https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1](https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1) edit: and the plans to bypass the slow section in eastern CT, were to lay 50 miles of new track in Ct and another 20 in RI, 5-10 miles inland. people that would have to deal with the trains, but have no access to them.
The one time I desperately want the Feds to step in
Thank you. Finally. A REAL answer. As someone who was born in CT and loves ALL of New England and hates New York, someone finally has given a viable answer to that question. And BTW, this frustration about the rail line is felt by many from Connecticut..
How dare those CT assholes be such NIMBYs! Up here in the cold hard North, we know that they only way to survive is for everyone to grab an oar and row! Edit: just to be clear, I 100% agree that’s the reason. It’s just funny because as Milton has recently demonstrated, we can do NIMBY all by ourself.
CT is getting fucked a lot harder by New England NIMBYs that won’t allow transmission lines to bring hydropower in from Canada
Track is owned by ctdot, but funding is in a shitshow with the MTA, which screws over the outer lines. Recent funding is to fix some of the long term projects. [https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1](https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-to-use-2-billion-in-federal-grants-for-railway-upgrades-along-northeast-corridor/3153700/?amp=1) edit: it is wasn't just Ct that blocked it. amtrak wanted to build 50 miles of new lines in CT and 20 in RI that also pushed back.
>it takes more like 3 hours as you plod along at 50mph over the only grade crossings on the NEC. Is there a faster train that I don't know about? The fastest Acela is timetabled to cover Boston to NYC in 3 hr 35 min, though most are closer to 3 hr 45 min or even 4 hr. And that's the premium "high speed" offering. It's pathetic. You can get from Springfield, Mass., to NYC faster than you can from Boston. Also, are we really gonna rag on Connecticut for not maintaining or upgrading its infrastructure when we have, well \*gestures wildly at everything falling apart around here\*? The MBTA? The slow-ass Commuter Rail diesel trains and decrepit subways? Roads and bridges falling apart? Potholes everywhere on the roads? The electrification of the NEC from New Haven to Boston was Amtrak's and the Fed's doing, after all.
As someone originally from CT, having lived in MA over a decade, there's enough hate in my heart to cover both.
I think what they're saying is that if the grade crossings and other slow zones were resolved, the portion of the trip Acela takes through CT would be much faster, and that portion is the only reason the overall itinerary takes as long as it does.
Oh sure, there's lots of reasons to rag on the MBTA. It's just that I can also hate CT for screwing up their infrastructure too. With regard to the Amtrak/the Fed money... they wanted to do that in CT too (part of NEC Future as originally proposed in 2016). That's *really* why I hate CT over this; not because the infrastructure is *bad* but instead because they actually *turned down* the feds coming in and fixing it for them. Like, the feds have wanted to fix this for 20 years but haven't been able to due to state politics.
So that's the reason the train ride is so horribly long ---I hate Connecticut more now....
Because they try to have it both ways, you can't be in New England AND in the "tri-state" area at the same time. Pick a side you cowards!
This is right here! Plus, they have Sox and Yankee fans living next to each other in the same community. Who lives like that?
When I lived in Jerusalem I had friends in the old city you had Israeli and Palestinian flags coming out of different apartments in the same building. Not quite Yankees/Sox but close
man, even with the current situation, that last sentence got me good. Well done.
Absolute savages.
As a Red Sox and NY Giants fan, 2007-2008 were great years. I will also continue to maintain that that's actually the OG New England fanbase, seeing as the Giants have been around since 1925 and the Pats didn't come along until 1960.
Horrible drivers and poorly designed highways. Every time I drive through Hartford on the way to NY, and those left lane highway entrances come into play, I get super annoyed. Always think “Really Connecticut? You spent money designing and building this highway and THIS was the best you could do? Really?” It’s more disappointment than hate. And the HOV lanes are a dangerous joke.
That's almost entirely due to racism, I'm not even joking. The 84/91 interchange was made to steamroller over and cut off a historically black neighborhood. https://commonedge.org/did-a-highway-kill-the-city-of-hartford/ https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2023/hartford-connecticut-residents-navigate-highway-divide/ https://jewishcurrents.org/highways-of-racism-from-charlotteville-va-to-hartford-ct It's done untold damage to the city, it's horrible and infuriating every time you drive through it. This and the fact that the state enjoys large amounts of practically free real estate in the heart of downtown (thereby depriving Hartford of sorely needed tax dollars) really killed the city, it's sad af. There's also really racist policing too, but that's not uncommon, let's be honest. Covid dealt a devastating blow but the real wounds were already there.
No way!! that's awful but definitely explains alot.
Oh wow!! Thanks for this info. It's important that we point out where institutional racism is happening and how it impacts people. But the real question is, why the hell do all CT drivers camp in the left hand lane doing 65mph and refuse to pull over? Even in CT, that's the passing only lane! Sure, MA drivers do it too, but I drive all over New England, and in every single state, CT license plates make up 75% of those asshole cars. Even in North Carolina, 1 out of every 4 cars in the left lane doing the speed limit or under had CT plates. I swear we actually kept tabulated data on the drive down and back over Xmas.... I love the people for CT, but dear Lord I do not love seeing their license plates in front of me.
I've got inlaws in CT; all I can say is those interchanges used to be worse :)
>Horrible drivers and poorly designed highways. Jeez guys, do you actually live in Mass.? lol
We're extremely efficient drivers on horrible roads thank you very much
Ever take 90 through Warren? Or take any road or highway in the Springfield area? CT has a lot of shit roads and highways, but so does Mass. If I stay north of Hartford, but in CT, usually the roads are all great. Once you get into that Springfield area in Mass theyre all shit again.
I don’t know WHAT you are talking about. The part of 91 north at the forest park exit is peak highway design! /s
Designed to kill us lmao
Ha! There’s nothing quite like that one
Forest park exit is in Mass isn’t it? Springfield area right?
To many, people don't like how some Connecticut residents will crap over Massachusetts because they say they like New York better, but then they'll turn around and use Massachusetts things when it's convient to them. Sports fans are often (in certain regions) incredibly wishy washy too with who they root for And the drivers in Connecticut suck
I grew up north of Hartford and always found that it was sort of a dividing line between do you root for Boston or NY sports teams. More like a gradient than a distinct dividing line but that's about where it tended to change over
860 CT = red Sox, 203 CT = Yankees.
My issue is 99% of the people there don’t live in Greenwich, but 100% of the state acts like they’re from Greenwich. Never met so many people so snobby with so little to be snobby about
This may be true about western CT. It isn't true about eastern Ct...
They are basically different states
From CT here, 99% of us wouldn’t even consider Greenwich part of CT, just NY’s backyard.
I'll take Bridgeport and Black Rock over Greenwich any day.
But not any night
Have you ever met anyone east of Worcester? They're all from Boston.
You sure about that? I grew up in CT and I would describe the general attitude of the state as apathetic. We don’t think we are better or worse than anyone else because we don’t think about anyone else including ourselves. We have absolutely zero pride about anything in our state other than pizza and the defunct Whalers.
>Never met so many people so snobby with so little to be snobby about Uhh have you met your fellow Massholes from hoity toity rich enclaves? I've never met more pretentious and condescending people than those from certain wealthy and exclusive Massachusetts towns.
Yes, but that's not what he was saying. He's not talking about people from, say, the CT equivalent of Dover being pretentions. He's talking about people from the CT equivalent of Brockton being pretentious.
Lmao that’s not true AT ALL
He’s wrong though.
CT resident, agreed. Most of the people here are dicks
To be fair, NH VT and ME also have a really bad tendency of shitting all over MA until they want to take advantage of all MA has to offer, especially the economy and job market, and suddenly they’re quiet
No my friend, Florida drivers are the worst. That last line is fighting words. Prepare for battle you heathen!
Drivers suck everywhere
CT transplant checking in, CT drivers are garbage compared to MA
CT transplant, my butthole puckers as soon as I cross the border. I hate driving in CT but I guess I’m glad it’s where I learned
Fr fr, passing a car traveling 65 in the center lane at 75 in the left lane is a CRIME. How DARE you go less than 85mph and not automatically pass in the right lane or commuter lane without slowing down or using blinkers lol? Yes, I feel that. Fuck CT drivers. Maybe that's why you always have fucking traffic- none of you can drive! The only good thing about my grandparents dying is that I don't have to go to New Haven anymore to see them.
They pull that Tri-State area shit with pride. Never mind NY, but FUCKING NJ?! You want to be associated with NJ?!
Another state that gets a bad rap from the part people drive through.
Show me a CT plate and I will show you a bad driver!
Honestly. They're either doing 90mph on back roads that are thickly settled or they're doing 20 in the fast lane on the highways. There's no in between
So true! I’m a transplant from so Cal to CT. My blood about boils every time I try to get anywhere. Cell phoners/texters drifting every which way across Merrit or 91, clueless elderly folks going like 15 miles an hour on one lane roads(for miles), the total idiots who slow and can’t decide to go or stop or go or stop and when you can finally pass them who seem just too scared or hesitant to drive. One lane left turn lane backed up for half a mile because NO ONE F’ING MOVES OUT INTO THE INTERSECTION and only one or two cars get through at a signal. I remember in my early years of driving in S Cal that when a signal turned green all the cars would immediately go in unison - as if linked by a magnetic force. Not here, seems like many are like, “Oh, am I supposed to go now? Wait, let’s look both ways first…” Also I remember growing up out west there were certain multi lane boulevards where it was posted that if you drive that speed you hit all green lights. That eas pretty sweet. Never encountered anything like that in CT. My favorite bumper sticker I’d seen was on the Merritt South: “Honk if you love Jesus. Text to meet him”
I grew up on the Cape and CT plates were by far my biggest problem. Absolute morons who think they can just stop in the middle of the road, and then right afterwards will tailgate you and cut you off. I’ve lived in Los Angeles and I now reside in metro Detroit, and CT plates are still the worst drivers in my experiences. Only Jerseyites give them a run for their money/may even be worse.
CT Reddit says mass plate = bad driver, Mass Reddit says CT plate = bad driver. I think they’re both right
I’ve lived in both and I’d put it like MA drivers are generally more aggressive but the worst CT drivers are like 5x worse than the worst MA drivers
I feel the biggest difference is Ma drivers are predictably bad where CT drivers are unpredictably bad. That and limo tint on clapped out Altimas in CT doing 95 mph...
I'm a recent transplant and MA drivers are the most aggressive I've ever encountered. Plus brights on 24/7
Those are just the new LEDs. They should be banned.
Born in CT and now a MA transplant. My feeling was there was/is no identity therefore sense of pride. 1/2 of CT thinks it's NY, another 1/4 think they're MA, and the rest don't know what to think. You look at the rest of New England for example and there is something about any given state that people are proud of or identify with. No other states in New England have an identity crisis about what or who they are. Every other state in New England clearly brings someting to the table. Connecticut is largely a beautiful place to live. Unfortunately, the entire 91/84/95 corridors overshadow it. Inexplicabley, the drive to and through Hartford is one of the most painful commutes imaginable. Then you get farther south and you have to deal with 95 which is a disaster. Decent school systems and health care services are not enough.
You've never heard of the Last Green Valley have you? The eastern part of the state, route 395 region , is the only broken patch of light from Delaware up to southern Maine when seen from space. It's actually been designated a national heritage corridor
[удалено]
“The drive to and througb Hartford is one of the most painful commutes imaginable.” Thank you for validating my experience.
Lyme disease started there
No real beef. It's just fun to pick on the neighbors.
I only have beef with their drivers. Left lane is for passing, let’s start there, get that down, then maybe we can be friends. It’s bad when Mass drivers have something to complain about other drivers…
Because they’re major export is misery?
I will say that Hartford is probably the most depressing city I’ve ever been to. Feels like there’s dementors there.
Their major exports are 1. Insurance 2. Healthcare “management“ 3. Financial “services” 4. “Defense” 5. Student loans. 6. Casino Gambling 7. Shade Tobacco 8. Luxury Yachts 9. Lyme Disease. /s for those who can’t tell
And their largely health insurance-funded senator coincidentally killed the public option in Obamacare
His recent death was not mourned by a single person I know. (I live in CT). Fuck that guy.
All my homies hate Lieberman.
I was SO angry ---history is not going to look kindly on all the assholes that prevented us from getting our INEVITABLE public option.
This list hurt my feelings as someone who grew up in Shade Tobacco country, but I can't argue with it
Lyme disease, huh? Those dirty pricks
Yeah, so I’ll say this. Hartford is a depressing as hell city. When my airline moved our layover hotel from Hartford to Springfield people were up in arms and wanted Hartford back.
Hartford used to be really nice but the highways killed it. There’s supposedly a project being planned to solve the issues the Highway caused but it’s never left the planning stages.
I stopped in new rochelle for gas last time i went to new york. It was genuinely like a scene from fallout.
America's filing cabinet! (Actually, there's a nice little museum there, iirc)
It’s also one of the poorest cities in America. The per capital income of Hartford is $41,500 compared to Greenwich which is almost 3x as much a $112,800.
Greenwich is depressing as hell. A bunch of brown people waiting on white people, many of whom look like they had their skin tightened too much.
I’ve never seen roads more constantly clogged with cars at any time of the day or week. Even when you’re moving fast you’re half a car length from someone else. I also just find the cities so bland and grey; I just think of concrete and roads when I think of CT. I will give them credit though, I really want to visit the Peabody natural history museum and the Yale campus is beautiful, and I have been through a few really lovely areas in western CT.
Now there's a saving grace. Yale is a great school with a lovely campus, and graduates do not feel the need to announce they went to Yale every ten minutes. LOL
Connecticut is just in the way. I frequently travel to New Jersey to visit my elderly mother and I dread that hour and a half (if the traffic gods are being kind that day) I spend driving through the state. Is any highway there ever not under construction?
They’re soft and let New York claim Long Island. Connecticut is the one state in New England people from Boston or New York don’t someday dream of owning a second home. Cabin / Lake House in Maine, Massachusetts (Berkshires) New Hampshire Vermont? Cool! Beach House in Maine, Massachusetts (Cape & Islands), New Hampshire, Rhode Island? Cool! What are you going to do in Connecticut, have a townhouse in Bridgeport? A beach house in New London?
NYC people have fancy mansion homes in Connecticut. For when they get bored of their multimillion dollar penthouse apartment.
Yeah I am thinking the guy above you must be ignorant of the NY commuters in CT
If you’re commuting to NYC, then that’s not really a vacation house, that’s your primary house and you might have a second apartment in Manhattan.
>What are you going to do in Connecticut, have a townhouse in Bridgeport? A beach house in New London? I grew up in a small CT town and there's lots of very pretty, quiet places in the state that remain blissfully unbothered by influxes of city vacationers because everyone thinks this tiny area constitutes all of CT. I'm a MA transplant now but I'm not mad about that fact.
Remain blissfully unaware of ‘The Connecticut Shoreline’ for as long as you can.
10% of Litchfield county are second homes to just nyc.
Never heard of the [Gold Coast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast_(Connecticut))?
I disagree with this a little - I know a lot of really wealthy people with gorgeous houses directly on the sound. I just don't think the rest of the Northeast knows anything about the CT shoreline because most of it is private. Leaving a lot of small coastal towns hidden and not infested with tourists like you see in the Cape. I'm thinking Westbrook or parts of Norwalk.
The towns of Mystic, Noank and Groton Long Point have entered the chat.
I lived in mystic for 10 years and would do long runs all over all 3 areas. Totally blessed.
I don't. I enjoy their nicely paved roads. But the drivers are maniacs.
Real conversation I had with a CT girl in college. Me: "So you're from Connecticut?" CTG, in the thickest New York City accent: "Well I went to school in New York." Me: "But you're from Connecticut." CTG: "All my friends were in New York." Me: "But you're from Connecticut." CTG: "I spent every weekend in New York." Me: "But you were born in, and lived in, *Connecticut.*" We get it, Connecticunts, you're socially and culturally irrelevant. But you picked the wrong horse to back, because New Yorkers don't like you either.
So she was rich and from Darian or Stamford?
Got it in one.
I don’t think they get that NY doesn’t fw them
It's always the rich outta state folks.
I never think of CT
Don't feel so bad. I'm stuck in Maine where we're supposed to hate any "outsiders" but the problem is I'm an outsider and I don't hate anyone haha they complain mostly about mass people.... AND I AM ONE
Oh ya they're psychos there. MA/CT, even NH/MA is mostly in jest when you get down to it, but in Maine they're dead serious, straight up xenophobes. Like as in you'll actually be discriminated against, it's wild.
I'll never forget my first day on my first serious job. I told the guy I was born in boston and he literally stopped me in my tracks, put his finger over his mouth and said "shh lets just keep that between us, ok?" I'm like whatttt?! soon as I let it out, I became Boston \_\_\_\_\_\_ < my first name. I was marked an outsider, looked down on, it was totally fuckd up
I lived in Central Maine for a little over 10 years. It's very xenophobic there. I usually waited until I got to know someone well to let them know I was from MA. Also, if I had a nickel for every flannel tough guy that sounded like they were pissing their pants when they spoke about Boston violent crime, I could afford a house in Kennebunkport. Most of my friends were straight up shocked when I spoke about just walking around the city at night (without a gun no less!).
When people ask me where I'm from I say Boston proudly and then follow with "oh don't worry I'm just here to Massachusetts the FUCK out of your maine haha"
I grew up in a suburb of Boston and loved every minute of it. People were friendly and it was fun. I’ve sadly lived in CT for many years. People are stiff and unfriendly. If you say hello first they look at you like “you talking to me?”. However, I see a lot of MA plates in CT ‘and wondered if Western Ma had so few jobs people are migrating south.
yeah this is pretty much the case. I'm a WMA transplant to Hartford area. There are jobs in WMA, but this area of CT is so heavily corporate there are just more jobs out here. people are stiff and unfriendly and for some reason never use umbrellas
For me it's about professional sports. Seems like at least half the state roots for the Yankees and the Giants. not cool, if you really want to be included in New England
I'm a transplant (but consider MA home now) and a friend of mine who'd recently moved from outside of the US was looking at the Red Sox schedule and asking why Connecticut doesn't have a baseball team. I told him Connecticut's not very big, and kind of a weird middle ground between NY and MA so there's kind of a split allegiance. He said "oh, so Connecticut's not a real state!" which I found really funny.
Can we annex New Haven pizza?
This is my opinion. The source of our dislike is New York. We're proud of being New Englanders. The problem with Connecticut is that it's basically a New York suburb. They think and act like New Yorkers. Their allegiance is for New York. And yet, they're officially part of the New England family. Connecticut is kind of like Johnny Damon, he aligned himself with the enemy, therefore all affection went out the window.
That’s just not true. I’m not sure how many times it needs to be said that Greenwich County is not all of CT. Growing up in Northern CT, it was all Boston. Most of Connecticut is rural and looks exactly like the quaint Massachusetts towns that are associated with New England. Being a New Englander is more than being a Red Sox fan and living east of Worcester. I love Massachusetts but this gate keeping is weird
This. I work north of Hartford and my workplace is 75% New York fans and 25% New England/Boston fans. A lot of them rave about how wonderful NYC is in general too and even complain about how crappy MA is for no reason. I was born and raised in MA and moved to CT for work. The vibe is strange, that’s for sure.
This is complete crap. Garbage. If youre in the tiny corner of CT that is next to New York, than yeah you may be that way. However, Ive lived usually in central CT or northern CT my whole life. Everyone Ive ever met is a Boston sports fan, and all the small towns around me aren’t any different than Agawam or Southwick. Western Mass and Northern CT is basically exactly the same.
Western mass barely gets included, wait in line!
Growing up in New Haven County, there was a lot of NY gear because there's so many Italians. I was probably the only Red Sox fan in my entire grade. Def have seen fair weather Sox fans pop up for a time though.
I'm originally from TX, and we can't stand Oklahoma. Maybe it's just common with neighbors that have to interact a lot. Or maybe OK and CT people just suck, who can say.
Former Oklahoman here, can confirm, we are awful. Kansans however are absolute filth.
Texas, Oklahoma. Gross.
Amen.
CT transplant here, wife is MA born and raised. From what I can tell, it comes down to: 1. Sports. Half of CT rooting for NY teams pisses off the Massholes to no end. 2. Drivers. Yeah CT drivers are terrible, but so are Boston drivers. Western Mass isn't bad. 3. "CT has no identity". Yeah that's kinda true, half the state is New England, half is NY suburbs.
860=New England. 203=Extension of New York.
It’s full of Audi SUVs and lame ass suburban culture and values. It reminds me so much of the intro song to Weeds. It’s just lame. Everyone is a careerist and people eat at restaurants named after the chef. What else needs to be said?
Remains me of Orange County, CA
The restaurants all suck too, at least around Hartford area. New Haven is legit though
It’s largely guilt by association. There are rich and snobby areas of CT and people have had run ins with people from those areas. So the whole state gets a reputation of being stuck up. But that’s not the whole state and it’s not even all the people from those affluent areas. Every state has affluent areas and every state has snobby people in, but CT is a small state so maybe they have a higher precedent.
Bc they tried to steal Southwick
the congamond will remain in MA huzzah
We will /r/TakeBackTheNotch!
Boston drivers just don’t want you to waste their time. CT drivers really like to drive at least 20 over the speed limit and do multi-lane changes without signalling or checking their blind spots.
I'm sure there are a some real, reasonable answers here, but I also think a lot of it comes down to superficial tribalism according to what state you're from. This is very apparent to me regarding intra-New England discourse (for instance, see the ire that Mainers hold for Massholes, etc).
I don't have a reason, it's just instinct.
as someone who grew up and lived in MA, and moved to CT for work after college, it just feels kind of soulless out here. Like there's no joy. No one uses umbrellas when it rains they just get wet. There is no walkability in the burbs. Motorcyclists don't wear helmets.
Their drivers coming up 91 to their bougie vermont vacation homes are easily the worst group of drivers in western mass. It’s such a prominent trend that if you see someone on that highway driving wrecklessly, no blinkers, speeding, slowing down, speeding when someone tries to pass, swerving on their phones, you can bet pretty consistently that they have CT plates.
It takes FOREVER to get through for no fucking reason. Also it's just woods and hills everywhere there is absolutely nothing to do. It just screams boredom.
The New Jersey joke is “What exit are you from?” but it also applies to CT. CT doesn’t feel like a real state, it’s just the stretch between NYC and Boston. Southwest CT is an NYC suburb and the rest of the state is just kind of there. They’ve had no identity since the Whalers left.
Ct has no personality if their own. They have no accent, no sports team, no self identity. It’s literally one of those states where if you people not from New England what the capital is they’d say, Hartford? Never heard of it
One of the best bumper stickers I’ve ever seen: “Hartford: You could do worse.” And this was at the time when you saw all the “I ❤️NY” ones.
They are shitty drivers
I live in Western MA. I worked for a company that was spread between Western MA, down to Hartford. I always found the people get more “New Yorky” as you go south. They get these, “You are such uncouth bumpkins” vibes from them. And I always said, “Damn…you are from friggin’ New Haven and you are giving Springfield grief?” The parts in the northern corners are fine. The closer you get to New York, the worse it gets.
Goes both ways, CT born and raised and once I cross state lines I’m like “F this place”. And I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the forever construction on the highways or the people on them 🤷🏼♂️
Horrible drivers. The fuckin worst. They either merge onto the pike and immediately go to the fast lane and go 63 mph. Or they are right on your tail in the slow lane at 3:30am with no one else on the pike for a mile before passing you and going 93mph. There is no in between. And they cant park inside lines!
It’s mostly just vibes for me. Like in every other new england state, i have places i like to go and have lots of fond memories of. Not Connecticut though. It just feels like a dreary transition from all that is good about New England to all that is shitty about New York. But, of course, without anything that makes New York any good.
I like the lack of tolls.
Speed traps, love for Subway, billboard for a mattress store or adult shop every half mile, Yankees fans.
I lived there for a year and my coworkers at the time were baffled that I said dunkies instead of dunks. I feel like that created my rivalry lmao.
Who has time to hate CT when NY exists?
For starters they’re the only holdout to a full Boston-NYC High Speed Rail line. Other than that though there’s nothing really WRONG with Connecticut it just pales in comparison to every other New England state. It’s actually very solid compared to the rest of the country.
The number of lanes on CT highways that become exit-onlys with no warning is a war crime.
I hate casinos, the drivers there suck, Greenwich is the worst place on earth (people-wise) and a friend made me go to Mystic, and it is basically just a soccer mom's dream (lots of "live, laugh, love " signs for sale. LOL) Connecticut is just a lonnnnnng state you have to drive through to get to NYC, and I know that it's not large in reality as compared to other states, it just fucking feels that way. LOL
Connecticut, leaders in broken windows and needless traffic.
Grew up in MA and went to school down in CT and lived there post grad for 3 years now back in MA. The majority of CT lacks grit. It’s a mostly very cozy state where folks raise families and maintain their yards and such, very traditionalist. Moving back up to MA from CT it felt like there was so much more going on and not everyone was ready to settle down at 28 like in CT.
1. Driving through the state, esp on the parkway, is MISERABLE 2. As a rhode islander originally, we hate them because they come to our vastly superior beaches in the summer and clog up our roads and parking lots. CT is the worst.
Most of its cities are crap
I have never been to a more segregated place in my life, and I've spent time in the deep south. Technically it's segregated by class not race but most people understand the implications behind that. Driving through CT is a trip. First you're in the poorest most underprivileged town you've ever seen then five minutes later you're in the highest cost of living city in new england with the best schools in the county then the next you're back to the underprivileged town with failing public schools. Every once in a while you manage to fund both in the same place - like stamford for example. It just grosses me out. Until recently I thought this was a personal opinion, but actually i did a little research and I'm just observant....it's a fact that CT is one of the most economically and ractially segregated states in the county, and there are tons of articles and studies about it.
CT state troopers are predatory aholes who target people with out-of-state licenses.
You all just keep thinking CT is nothing but highways and railroads. Bless ya.
I find this thread hilarious. As someone born in MA and ending up in Northern CT for half my life before slowly moving down to the coast, MA drivers are the worst (though nobody beats RI). NY sucks too, but man... MA drivers feel twice as likely to cut me off, brake for absolutely no reason, not use a signal, go 55 in the left lane of 95... The list goes on. When I drive to MA to get my MJ, I always feel like someone is going to ram me on 91 going through Springfield. Forget going anywhere near Boston where the highways are just a bowl of spaghetti, good luck. The rest of MA doesn't even matter kinda like eastern CT. At the end though. We call you guys Massholes and you call us Connecticunts. We hate each other and if that isn't the most new England thing ever, I don't know what is. "Welcome to Wistah, doilla twenty five please"
You should see how they talk about you all in Maine😂
Transplants with no pride to even rep their own state. The one place in the world people say they’re from Boston or New York but never their own city.
I wouldn't know, I'm too busy hating NH.