Reconnecting Communities: North Adams Route 2 Overpass Study

North Adams, once defined by industrial strength and manufacturing, saw rapid decline in the city's built fabric and population after the midcentury, and in particular after the closing of the Sprague Electric Co. Factory in 1985, which eliminated the vast majority of local jobs overnight. The promise of Urban Renewal left scars in the city, as surface parking and an overpass were constructed in the 1960s.

Despite these challenges, the city today hosts a robust set of creative and cultural amenities, influenced by the renovation of Sprague Electric’s abandoned 19th century industrial buildings into MASS MoCA, one of the nation’s largest contemporary art museums. Exhibitions by artists such as Sol LeWitt, Laurie Anderson, and James Turrell have cemented its reputation as a national cultural destination. In turn, the museum has sparked a new economy rooted in cultural tourism, drawing visitors while sustaining local businesses and attracting national and international artists to create work at a scale rarely possible elsewhere.

The study explores scenarios for repairing, replacing, or removing the overpass to re-stitch the city’s historic fabric, improve circulation, and open up land for public gathering, additional housing development, and an activated waterfront. The project demonstrates how the same forces of design and planning that once fractured this community can now be turned toward repairing it—creating spaces of connection, possibility, and renewal.

Read more about the Route 2 Overpass project here.