Thursday, 4:30 PM
New "flyover" at Sagamore Bridge gets mixed reviews
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff
For thousands of visitors, going to the Cape over Memorial Day weekend was much easier and pleasant than heading home.
The new $60 million "flyover," which erased the hated rotary at the base of the Sagamore Bridge, smoothed Cape-bound travel on Friday and Saturday. But drivers returning from the Cape on Monday found themselves in a worse-than-usual traffic nightmare, with backups that stretched as long as 17 miles to Yarmouth at mid-afternoon.
To avoid a repeat this summer, state transportation officials said Tuesday they plan to install electronic signs urging vacationers to stagger their exits from the Cape Cod as well as their arrivals. Officials said they will also look at possible changes to the roadways around Exit 1, where Route 6A merges into Route 6 at the base of the bridge.
The merge is on the other side of the bridge from the "flyover," the two-year project completed in October that replaced the roundabout at the intersection of Routes 3 and 6, which traditionally tied up Cape-bound traffic.
Officials said the holiday weekend began with no problems at the "flyover," which gives Cape-bound drivers a straight shot to Sagamore Bridge. In fact, officials said, the flyover's efficiency and publicity about it might have encouraged more people to go to the Cape. More hotels and motels sold out than for a typical Memorial Day, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce officials said Tuesday.
But on Monday, improving weather lulled many families to stay later, resulting in thousands trying to leave in the same few hours that afternoon.
Backups ranged from eight to 17 miles on Route 6 and lasted from 11 a.m. to past 8 p.m., officials said. At one point around 3 p.m., Route 6 traffic headed off the Cape stretched as far back as Yarmouth. An afternoon five-vehicle crash in Hyannis between Exits 5 and 6 made things worse. Service roads adjacent to Route 6, often a way to get around traffic, were clogged as well. Local residents reported having to wait to pull out of their driveways on to those service roads.
