‘Just absolutely surreal’: New England traffic following solar eclipse

(WGGB/WSHM) – Monday was the solar eclipse, seen across much of the United States, with the path of totality through Vermont and people from both Massachusetts and Connecticut tried to beat the traffic to see the full eclipse.

It was a quite a day for many in New England who traveled to, or at least tried to reach, Burlington, Vermont to witness several minutes of a total eclipse of the sun.

It was an adventure that they’ll never forget.

Traffic heading southbound on I-91 Monday evening was not bad, especially for those who came back from Vermont to see something we probably won’t see again for a while: a solar eclipse with the path of totality touching parts of New England.

“We, my friend and I, left around noon and just drove until we couldn’t drive anymore and until we started seeing it get dark,” expressed Lewis Santiago. “We pulled over, and we’re like ‘ay, there it is.’”

Western Mass News spoke with several drivers at a rest area in Holyoke.

Among them, New Haven, Connecticut’s Lewis Santiago, who told us seeing the eclipse was special knowing his interest in space since he was a kid.

He and his friend may have been unable to reach Burlington, but getting close to totality was still good enough.

“I was around for a couple of partial eclipses here and there,” said Santiago. “But, I’ve never been in an area where I could actually see it, so this was just very exciting.”

While the two didn’t hit traffic on the way to the path of totality, the same could not be said about others, such as Mary Richard burns of Sturbridge.

She and her dad were traveling from Boston to see the eclipse.

“I-89 into Vermont, it was bumper to bumper for a while,” expressed Burns. “People were driving on the shoulder, which is how we ended up at a park because we just decided we will stop here. It will be safer.”

Anuraag Sendhilnathan and his friends at Northeastern University drove all the way from Boston starting at 8 a.m.

“The goal was to reach Burlington, but they managed to make it halfway,” explained Sendhilnathan. “The traffic was intense. We drove for around four hours. The traffic was really intense. We were stuck in a place for like 30 minutes, then we drove around and took a detour.”

Despite not reaching their exact destinations, witnessing history and a peak at almost totality was a moment these travelers will cherish for a long time.

“We wouldn’t know if we would be able to see it again,” added Sendhilnathan. “So it was really good. And the whole place got dark like it was evening.”

“Just absolutely surreal,” said Burns. It was a really powerful experience, and there were little kids near us and folks from other countries. We all had a really nice experience.”

The traffic after the eclipse wasn’t any better.

According to Google Maps, there is a traffic back up of close to 50 miles coming out of Burlington Vermont along I-89 which leads to I-91.

As for those waiting for the next solar eclipse, that won’t be until August of 2044.

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