AMHERST — Commencement and its associated activities at the University of Massachusetts, and students moving out from their on-campus residences, will mean heavy traffic in Amherst beginning Wednesday.
Meantime, with the anticipated influx of families, the Department of Public Works announced that, beginning Monday, crews from Caracas Construction will begin working 10-hour days, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., on the project to rehabilitate Northampton Road between University Drive and South Pleasant Street.
Workers will not be on the state highway on Friday, when the day begins with the graduate commencement and concludes with the undergraduate commencement. Both are being held at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
UMass issued an advisory that there will be road closures and delays as 11,000 students move out from the campus residence halls Wednesday and Thursday, with the busiest areas expected to be at the Commonwealth Honors College on Commonwealth Avenue and the Southwest Residential Area off Massachusetts Avenue.
Traffic exiting both sites will be routed through Lot 71, west of Whitmore Hall, onto Massachusetts Avenue.
Graduations begin with the Commonwealth Honors College holding its Celebration of Excellence Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Mullins Center.
On Friday, the campus will be closed for general business, with the graduation commencement at 9 a.m., and University Drive from Massachusetts Avenue to Amity Street closed from 7:30 a.m. to noon to accommodate buses with attendees. Rocky Hill Road in Hadley, from University Drive to North Maple Street, will also be closed that day from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., and again from 2 to 8 p.m., for the bus shuttles.
Similarly, University Drive will be closed to vehicles from 2 to 8 p.m. on Friday to accommodate buses carrying attendees to the undergraduate commencement that starts at 4:30 p.m. North Pleasant Street will also be closed between Massachusetts Avenue and Eastman Lane, though visitors can acccess the campus via North Pleasant Street coming from both downtown and North Amherst.
Visitors will be directed to the closest parking lot as they arrive, and will be encouraged to take buses or walk to their destination, as once vehicles are parked they can’t be moved.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
