AMHERST — Heavy traffic and road closures will greet people traveling in Amherst Thursday through Saturday as the semester ends at the University of Massachusetts and commencement activities are held.
On Thursday, about 7,000 students will be moving out of campus residence halls, with Massachusetts Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue on the campus, and the Route 116 bypass, expected to be most impacted by the influx of vehicles throughout the day.
The university has created a plan in which traffic exiting the Commonwealth Honors College will be routed through Lot 71 west of the Whitmore Administration Building Hall onto Massachusetts Avenue, with students departing the Southwest Residential Area also leaving via Massachusetts Avenue.
For the town’s residents and the business community, the traffic will create some issues.
“It will definitely have impacts,” said Sarah la Cour, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District. La Cour said the BID is putting out a message to downtown businesses, observing that many restaurants will see a surge in families going out to dinner Thursday, which is already one of the busiest nights of the week.
But la Cour said the benefit is that more people are in town for a few days, and she appreciates that UMass does the best it can to streamline the comings and goings of visitors.
“Generally, it’s a good weekend,” la Cour said.
The commencement activities begin Thursday evening, when from 6 to 7:30 the Commonwealth Honors College holds its Senior Recognition and Awards Ceremony at the Mullins Center.
On Friday, multiple ceremonies take place throughout the day, starting with graduate commencement at 9 a.m. at Mullins Center and culminating with the undergraduate commencement at 4:30 p.m. For about two hours, McGuirk Alumni Stadium will be filled with students and families celebrating, with a commencement speech to be delivered by Gov. Charlie Baker.
In the lead up to commencement, roads will be closed. Beginning at noon, North Pleasant Street through the heart of campus, from Eastman Lane to Massachusetts Avenue, will be closed to all traffic, as will University Drive from Massachusetts Avenue to Amity Street. Access to campus will be from the north on North Pleasant Street in North Amherst, from the south on Route 116 and from Amherst center on North Pleasant Street.
Campus police are advising visitors to park in a designated parking lot when first arriving on campus and take the free bus system to the various ceremonies, especially the commencement. Moving cars from one parking lot to another will be not be allowed.
Saturday will also have multiple ceremonies throughout the day, including the Stockbridge School commencement at Bowker Auditorium at 1 p.m.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
