AMHERST — Amherst’s summer lull, when many college students leave town following the spring semester and commencement ceremonies, comes to an end this week as move-in begins at the University of Massachusetts on Thursday.
While residents and visitors should expect an increase in traffic around town, the business community notes that the most significant congestion will be confined to the campus, and there is no need to avoid downtown and village centers.
“We’re really excited to have the students back,” said Gabrielle Gould, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District. “They’re a part of our community.”
The text on electronic signs, set up to remind people that the town’s population is about to swell, has been adjusted to be clear that Amherst welcomes students.
More than 14,000 students at UMass, mostly undergraduates, will be making their way back to on-campus dormitories, joining 8,000 or so other students who will be living in the region as the fall semester begins.
Unlike in the past, when parents would bring students on one day, arriving early in the morning in attempts to beat the crowds, the UMass move-in is now done in a more organized fashion that includes staggered times for families to show up. The schedule includes freshmen getting to campus on Thursday, those who will be living in the lower levels of the Southwest high rises and other dormitories coming on Friday, and the remaining who need assistance with their move-in on Saturday. The final students will get to town on Sunday and Labor Day, so they are there for the first day of classes on Sept. 6.
Dawn Bond, director of operational services for Facilities and Campus Services, recently sent out a reminder to students, with one suggestion being not to use the Route 116 bypass exits during peak volume.
“There will be significant delays entering, exiting and traveling around campus and in the local area. You should expect heavy congestion on campus and heavy traffic leading into campus on Route 9 and Route 116,” Bond wrote.
The pattern for the drop-off and departures shows traffic exiting Southwest and the Commonwealth Honors College through Lot 71 west of the Whitmore Administration Building.
There will also be two roads closed beginning Thursday and lasting through Saturday, from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. those days. University Drive north of Amity Street will be used for move-in traffic only, and Eastman Lane will be closed westbound at East Pleasant Street.
For Gould, who represents downtown businesses, the important message to get across is that students bring “incredible vibrancy” to town.
Though the pandemic is not over, this move-in will be similar to the last regular one, in 2019, she said. “This is the first fall move-in in three years that feels more normal,” Gould said.
Amherst is also bouncing back, with several new businesses already opening and other vacant storefronts to be filled, with the possibility that a new tenant will take over for the space long occupied by Hastings.
One sign of the sense of normalcy is having the Celebrate Amherst Block Party return for the first time since 2019, with a section of North Pleasant Street to be closed off to create a pedestrian mall on the evening of Sept. 15. This will serve as way to introduce people to town, following the past weekend’s Amherst Rotary Community Fair on the Town Common.
Gould said the work she is doing focuses on not just bringing residents and students to dine and shop downtown, but making Amherst a regional destination.
To that end, both The Drake music venue and the Amherst Cinema are among locations that serve as a draw for people from outside Amherst.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
