It's smooth sailing for commuters
Dr. Robert H. Ackerman did not need to row his single scull 4 miles down the Charles River to get to work at Massachusetts General Hospital yesterday.
Storrow and Memorial drives were flowing well yesterday morning from his home in Cambridge. And even if he worked a late shift, the outbound lanes of both roads would have gotten him home quickly, after the predicted traffic tie-ups from the Democratic National Convention failed to come to fruition.
Still, Ackerman, a 69-year-old neurologist and neuroradiologist at MGH and a rower for 15 years, had been dwelling on this new commute long before the convention came to down.
"I might as well do what I've always dreamed of doing," he said before leaving the Cambridge Boat Club and heading for the Union Boat Club behind the Hatch Shell.
Past a family of ducklings, under a host of graffiti-tagged bridges, Ackerman rowed to work, his Palm Pilot, cellphone, keys, and wallet wrapped in a plastic shopping bag at his feet.
Pulling up to the Union Boat Club 45 minutes later, he lifted his King Shell over his head, stowed it away, and made his way to the locker room to change. "It's a nice way to spend a morning," he said.
But Ackerman could have driven if he had wanted to.
For the second day in a row, Boston area residents heeded warnings about potential traffic nightmares and stayed away from the city. Morning and evening commutes were largely unaffected by highway lane restrictions and the nighttime closure of portions of Interstate 93.
As happened Monday, the closure of I-93 began around 4 p.m., but did not take effect in the center of the city until about three hours later. Exits to I-93 north and south remained open as late as 7 p.m.
With traffic volume overall lower than predicted, the gridlock some feared on alternative routes did not materialize. City officials in Somerville and Medford, for example, said that traffic on some of the local roads along I-93 yesterday was lighter than normal during the morning and evening rush hours.
