Roadblock Could Stem Xfinity Center Traffic Woes

MANSFIELD, MA — It's no secret that when there's a show at the Xfinity Center, traffic is nothing but certain. Even Mansfield Police Chief Ron Sellon can recall knowing in high school to avoid South Main Street when a band was performing at the former Great Woods Center For Performing Arts.

Recent problems with drivers using phone apps to navigate backroads and enter South Main Street from a different point than Route 140 now has police and Xfinity Center officials searching for a solution, which may be a roadblock, Sellon told the selectmen Wednesday.

Sellon, along with Xfinity Center GM Jeff Mann, told the board that they have been working to solve the issue following resident complaints that concertgoers are using apps like Waze and Google Maps to use backroads to get to the venue. Starting this week, police will be blocking the southbound side of South Main Street before it turns into Route 140, closing the point of access for drivers that were using Fruit and Willow streets to navigate around the traffic backup on Route 140.

By closing the stop after the two streets intersect with South Main Street, it allows officers to report a road closure on Waze and stops the app from redirecting concertgoers down the streets.

Sellon said he thinks some of the problem stems from drivers getting off of Interstate 95 at Route 140. Once traffic starts to build up at Route 140 exit on Interstate 495, drivers using Waze and Google Maps get told, in an effort to avoid concert traffic, to take a left off of Route 140 onto School Street, a right onto Willow Street and then a right onto South Main Street. On the Norton side, concertgoers are accessing South Main Street by way of Fruit Street.

That has meant heavy traffic on backroads and angry residents wanting to know why people are using their street to get to the show.

Sellon said his department reached out to Waze to find a solution, but only received “a basic rudimentary course in how roads work.”

“Effectively, we're trying to stop water from flowing downhill. We want to go to the root and cut it off. The best and cleanest way is to put a road closure so we effectively shut down South Main Street as a point of entry,” Sellon said.

The road will be closed for everyone, meaning if you are going into Norton, you will not be able to use Route 140. The northbound side of the street will remain open.

Following the first concert, residents on social media have demanded a solution to the traffic jams that have formed on their streets. Sellon said he heard from one woman who was unable to get out of her driveway for 25 minutes.

Some residents online have suggested reporting fake closures on Waze, but the closure is removed once a car passes down the road and users reporting false information risk being banned from the app.

Selectman Steve Schoonveld requested that the brown directional signs for the Xfinity Center, but Sellon said he was unsure who installed the signs and when they were placed around town.

“The idea is a genius idea but you gotta cover that brown sign because not everyone uses apps,” Schoonveld said.

Mann said he believes there will be four or five more shows this season that will give them trouble on the traffic front.

The next Xfinity Center concert takes place Saturday night when Luke Bryan comes to town.

Image: Map of Mansfield. The black lines are streets effected by the surge in backroad traffic to the Xfinity Center and the blue line are the only allowed ways to the venue. The blue pin is the location of the road block. Submitted by Police Chief Ron Sellon.