Local travelers jam roads, train stations, but Logan is quieter

By Casey Ramsdell. Globe Correspondent

Travelers with a sea of rolling suitcases and backpacks in tow jammed highways and train stations today, but Logan Airport was decidedly quieter than usual on the busiest travel day of the year

As the day wore on, local highways filled up.

At 2 p.m., state authorities reported heavy traffic on the Mass. Pike near the Sturbridge exit, delays on Route 128 at the Weston and Newton exits, and on Route 495 at Westborough. On I-93, heavy volume was reported in the O'Neill Tunnel around Southampton St. and on Storrow Drive across the Zakim Bridge.

But at Logan, there were no major problems and no delays today, said Phil Orlandella, director of media relations. He said because of the economy the number of people flying has gone down.

“The numbers are down quite a bit, eight to ten percent,” he said.

In addition to the usual hassles, the economic downturn also weighed heavily on minds at South Station.

Jane Marie Ingram, a 51-year-old Franklin resident, opted against driving to Maine because of gas prices. But her bus connections make the trip somewhat of an ordeal: She left at 8:30 this morning and will not reach her destination of Madawaska, Maine until 11:45 p.m.

Ingram, who was surrounded by suitcases and who used her computer as she waited, said her $95 round-trip ticket cost a lot less than she would have spent if she had driven and that the longer commute is worth it.

“I don’t have to drive. I can watch a movie, I can sleep,” she said. “There are a lot of positive things.”

Sitting on the ground eating a take-out sandwich, MIT freshman Saloni Jain was on her way home to State College, Pa. She said she usually flies, but waited too long to buy her ticket so she settled for the bus.

But she didn’t seem upset to be in the bus station, as opposed to the airport.

“I wouldn’t want to pay that much for a flight,” she said.

Leigh Ahrensdorf, 22, was headed to Philadelphia by train. Ahrensdorf, who works at State Street Financial and is a Connecticut College graduate, knew that the trip could get hectic so she planned ahead.

“I reserved my ticket in September,'' she said. "I know from going to a New England college it can get crazy,” she said.

She wasn’t the only person who planned ahead.

Howard Neff, a state worker, came to South Station on Tuesday to buy his bus ticket to Bourne to visit his family today. He seemed happy with his choice.

“I have only been here for a half an hour. It’s a mob scene,” he said.

Neff, 35, drives about half of the time that he travels home, but wanted to avoid the traffic. “It’s easier with all the traffic to sit back and let someone else worry,” he said as he ate his lunch.

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