Sorry to sound like a "Debbie-Downer", but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

A few days ago I was driving home from the station when I was stuck behind a school bus for close to 2 miles. Being stuck behind a school bus is a common complaint that most driving adults have to deal with, but sometimes there are areas that are worse than others, especially in the Southcoast. I did a little research on some of the more difficult roads that may have more occurring frequent stops than others and this is what I came up with:

South Main Street- Acushnet

As one of the main veins that leads Acushnet locals out of and into the town, South Main street tends to get backed up pretty easily. Whether it's the dump trucks from the "gravel-yard" or simply a "Sunday-Cruiser" taking their sweet time, you're bound to run into some kind of slow-moving traffic.

South Main Street- Fall River

South Main Street is one of the busiest spots in Fall River and combining the traffic with one of the slowest moving vehicles out there is a recipe for disaster.

Crandal & Stafford Road- Tiverton

In this situation, you may experience a bit more back-up on the Crandal Rd side heading towards Little Compton, but some residual traffic may be pushed back onto Stafford Rd. This is definitely one of those "stop and go" routes, as there are multiple busses traveling on these roads as Tiverton High and Middle schools are being released.

Sanford Road- Westport

When it comes to Westport roads, chances are you're most likely to see back up from a tractor than a school bus, but for the most part, a majority of school bus-related traffic occurs on Sanford road heading towards Route 6.

North Street- Mattapoisett

Another instance of a combination of school buses and busy streets is none other than North Street in Mattapoisett. Being one of the busiest roads in the whole town, the addition of a school bus stopping every 60 feet is something to make anyone rage behind the wheel.

Cottage Street and Elm Street- New Bedford

Being intersecting streets, I figured these two could be a combined entry to the list. If you've ever been in the area of Elm and Cottage in the vicinity of 2:30 to 3:00, then you know what true road rage feels like. Stop and go traffic from one end of the street to the other makes this route one of the worst.

State Road- Plymouth

This five mile stretch has got to be one of the worst. With stops every 50 feet, you're going to be stuck behind a bus for quite awhile. Rather than having one or two stops towards the middle of this bus route, there is a ton of them sprinkled throughout, which means some serious stop and go traffic.

Onset Avenue- Buzzards Bay

Towards the east end of this busy main road you've got a lot traffic. But the majority of said traffic occurs from 7:50 A.M. and 8:00 A.M. during school bus pickup hours. During this small window of time, you've got two different school buses on relatively the same route, clogging up the lanes.

Ashley Boulevard- New Bedford

This one takes the cake. Having THREE different schools all in a two block radius means you're destined to see some bumper to bumper traffic from 2:30 all the way up to about 3:45. The time slot for traffic is considerably larger than the others because there are more buses which means more backups, and some of these schools have late buses for kids who stay after and need a ride home.

 

Now, don't get me wrong... we all go through this, I'm not the only one. It's simply part of life and instead of complaining, the best thing to do is just accept the fate of traffic back-up. Keep in mind, we can help make this move smoother. By parking correctly and being courteous on the road, the buses have an easier time picking up kids. The intentions of this blog are not to hate on the buses (we all have a job to do), but to perhaps detour your daily route to relieve some of the traffic on our local roadways.

 

 

 

Additional Reporting by Michael DeSouza

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