Rt 91: Northampton to the VT border

[Glenn]

The State Police Barracks must have gotten the memo that it's ski season in VT. We've driven that stretch of highway literally every weekend since March. It's been pretty quiet in the off season aside from holiday weekends. Last night, (heading south)there were a number of speed traps. I got hit with the radar (per my detector lighting up), but I keep the cruise on at about 72ish. That was one of the strangest traps I've seen The trooper was literally in the breakdown lane with his parking lights on, radar shooting backwards. Seemed kinda dangerous to me.

So keep the speeds down on that stretch of highway...especially with the out of state plates. I've also noticed a state trooper in an Expedition who bags a lot of commercial trucks right near the MA/CT boarder as you get out of Springfield. So if you take the U-Haul skiing...be mindful.

 

[Greg]

Cool. Thanks. Heading up Friday. Usually try to stay below 74, but that little downhill before exit 6 usually results in 80+ for me. Got snagged once there - warning only.

 

[vcunning]

Yep, we saw three last Friday. I'm taking the casual pace and just setting the cruise on 67 these days.

 

[drjeff]

I went by 2 in the Northhampton - Greenfield stretch northbound on Saturday in the mixed precipitation at 72 and then 3 Southbound Sunday between Greenfield and the Mass Pike with the cruise set at 75 and I didn't make any contributions to the "Deval Patrick re-election fund"

 

[mondeo]

Mass cops use some of the most dangerous speed traps I've seen. Breakdown lane around blind corners and the like. Set cruise at about 74 per my GPS if time's an issue, otherwise I just pick up the 10% gas mileage benefit and keep it around 65. The thing that bugs me about Mass is the construction that just seems to get worse and worse year after year.

I'm just surprised I've made 4 trips up and haven't seen a trap in Plymouth Union yet.

 

[roark]

heh, saw the title of this thread and first thought was popo.

 

[Glenn]

The breakdown lane one still makes me shake my head. It was just after a bit of a crest in the road...so it took a few seconds for me to compute what was going on. It seems that's not worth the risk. But the guy is probably just following orders.

Another one to watch for southbound. You'd think I'd know the aprox. town/area....but I don't. As you crest a pretty large hill, there's a weight station that's closed about 99% of the time. The cop will usually hide along the exit portion of the area and tag people as they crest the hill.

 

[drjeff]

The breakdown lane one still makes me shake my head. It was just after a bit of a crest in the road...so it took a few seconds for me to compute what was going on. It seems that's not worth the risk. But the guy is probably just following orders.

Another one to watch for southbound. You'd think I'd know the aprox. town/area....but I don't. As you crest a pretty large hill, there's a weight station that's closed about 99% of the time. The cop will usually hide along the exit portion of the area and tag people as they crest the hill.

That's in Deerfield, just before you get to exit 24 (the one you use to goto Yankee Candle when heading Southbound on I-91)

My other "favorite" one they like to do quite often on Friday Nights especially, is just after you come out of the curves leaving the North Hampton area and head out on the long straightaway, you'll often get a cop sitting on the Northbound on-ramp of Exit 21 just waiting to hit you with the laser as you cruise on past the on ramp

 

[Zand]

If you think breakdown lane is bad, I've seen cops on 290 in Worcester stand right on the edge of the breakdown lane clocking and then jump out in the road to pull people over. Saw it twice in one day once a couple Memorial Days ago.

As for 91, once into VT, I've always noticed that the area between Brattleboro and the Putney exit tends to have a trap every weekend. Saw 4 cops in about a mile there once.

 

[mondeo]

Speaking of this section of 91:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/icy_bridge_on_interstate_91_in.html

Which I reached at about 6:55. Stuck for 50 minutes.