Hurry up and wait! Traffic snarls region

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - The closure of a single southbound lane on Interstate Route 91 Friday afternoon caused rush-hour traffic across the city to come to a standstill and resulted in headaches for motorists looking to get a jump on the long weekend and some sunny spring weather.

At 6 p.m. Friday, snarled lines of traffic inched their way across the city center, and motorists like Sean Walsh, of Easthampton, suffered through what he called a "nightmare of a ride home from work."

"I don't understand why the state couldn't have waited to do the work at a time when there would be far fewer people looking to get on 91," Walsh said outside the Sunoco gas station on Pleasant Street. "My ride home has never ever taken this long."

The root cause of the traffic, according to Maureen Glenn of the State Police in Northampton, was the closure of a southbound lane so workers could pour concrete near the East Street Bridge in Easthampton. Glenn said the site had been cleared by 5:30 p.m., far later than the Massachusetts Department of Transportation intended to have the lane closed.

"I don't know if they had a problem with the concrete or what," Glenn said.

Also sitting in traffic on Pleasant Street Friday was Mary Charlemont, of South Deerfield, who said it took her about 45 minutes to get through the heart of the city.

"This is the worst I've seen traffic in Northampton in a long time," Charlemont said. "We came into Northampton for lunch and we've been trying to get out ever since."

Police said at the peak of rush hour, traffic extended several miles down Route 9 into Hadley, and motorists traveling on the highway sat bumper to bumper for several miles leading up to the Interstate 91 entrance ramp in Northampton.

Many motorists interviewed Friday evening were bewildered that the state would approve a highway project during rush hour right before Easter weekend, and when many college students in the five-college area would be heading home for the holiday.

The project, over East Street in Easthampton, is in its final phase and is expected to be completed this year, the state Department of Transportation says.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com