Snow Day in Boston
Today was a pretty snowy day in the Boston area. Weather forecasters warned people that it was going to be a quick storm dropping about 6 inches or more of snow during the evening commute.
What made the storm really bad is that almost everyone left work early! This caused a grid lock with most of roads in eastern Massachusetts. I know some people that left work in Natick around 3pm and didn?t get to their house in Newton until 7pm. A commute that usually takes about 30 minutes for the 20 mile distance took 4 hours today!
The MassPike was bumper to bumper going into and out of the city of Boston. The bottleneck lasted for many hours, and the side roads weren?t any better. Washington Street in Newton had the largest backup that I have ever seen. Most people were taking this route to avoid the traffic on the Mass Pike and get to 128.
The suburbs weren?t any better to commuters. Local media reported slow traffic on Route 9 in the Newton/Wellesley area. Some commuters even ran out of gas on Route 9! There were lots of reports of people being on the road stuck in traffic for 5,6,7 hours.
I was in the city of Boston and took the commuter rail from Newtonville to South Station. I got out of work around 4:30 and waited to catch the 5:05 train. The train was a little late getting in and they waited an extra 15mins before leaving. (I am not sure the reason for the delay.) Most of the trains were late getting in and there were lots of people in South Station waiting. I manage to get to Newtonville around 6pm.
I stopped at the Lobster Wok to pick up Chinese takeout for dinner, and there were few other people also had the same idea. The restaurant was the crowded that I have ever seen it! I did notice that the Starbucks next door was also crowded and a few people were using their laptops in the cafe. Must be nice to sit inside and sip on a Eggnog Late and enjoy the first winter storm of the season.
My white 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS had no problems getting up the street to my apartment. The car was covered in snow, but had no problems getting through the unplowed parking lot. I saw several front wheel drive cars having problems in the parking lot and fish tailing on several side streets. It really helps to have all wheel drive.
The next time a big storm supposed hit the Boston area during the evening commute its probably best to work from home, or at least leave really really early. I am sure there?s plenty of New England drivers that wish they didn?t go to work today.