Traffic and transit is back to normal after yesterday’s plethora of road and lane closings, heavy congestion, transit delays and police activity related to the electronic advertising devices found all over Boston. Many commuters were inconvenienced and left to find alternate routing when the devices were mistaken for a public danger and road and lanes were closed for safety.

When the first device was found in the morning, Route 93 North was closed at Sullivan Square and traffic was at a standstill from the Expressway North at Mass. Ave. Northbound travelers were detoured to Mystic Ave. to reach the Sullivan Square ramp to Route 93 North, and that was a terrible ride, too. Route 93 South was open, but the Sullivan Square offramp was closed. Southbound delays stretched back to Route 16 in Medford.

MBTA Orange Line travelers were bused from Wellington to North Station and many bus routes serving Sullivan Square were detoured around the area. Once the device was detonated around 10 AM, the northbound roadway opened to traffic and the southbound Sullivan Square ramp opened shortly thereafter. The MBTA was back in service about 15 minutes after the roadway opening.

During the early afternoon, the biggest impact on travel resulted from a device found under the Longfellow Bridge. While responders worked the scene, the Longfellow Bridge was closed to traffic, which necessitated the termination of Red Line service between Park Street and Kendall Square. Storrow Drive was closed eastbound with traffic detoured through Charles Circle. The resulting backup extended to Kenmore Square and jammed traffic into Back Bay. Storrow Drive WB was briefly closed, causing backups onto the Leverett Connector.

Later in the afternoon, another device was found on Mass. Ave. on the bridge which passes over Memorial Drive in Cambridge. While that site was being cleared, police shut down traffic on Mass Ave in both directions, which tied up Mass. Ave. over the bridge and around MIT in Cambridge. Memorial Drive was never closed.

Delays were seen in the other areas where devices were found, but the impact was less significant.

Was your commute affected by the activity yesterday?  How so?