WTAG-TV?

[Sid Schweiger]

> As far as the Mass Pike goes, wasn't the placement of the road outside
> Worcester some sort of political retaliation?  I'm sure the story is
> convoluted.  But remember, roads like I-90 were supposed to go _near_
> cities, not through them, by design.  But the lack of a good Pike
> connection to the southeast (such as Route 146 is today) and the lack
> of Channel 5 probably did hurt the city.

The story, as I understand it, is that the PTW in Worcester at the time tried to tell Turnpike Authority chairman William F. Callahan where the Pike should go.  As with Robert Moses in New York, no one ever told Callahan how and where to build roads, and his retaliation was to keep the Pike well south of Worcester.

At the time the Turnpike Authority was created (1953), there was no Interstate Highway system, and even when it was created (1956), toll roads were specifically excluded from it, something that didn't change until many year after the original law was passed.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040