Pileup closes I-95 in Mass. Fast-moving storm hinders road, air traffic

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – A traffic pileup involving as many as 100 cars closed Interstate 95 southbound for hours Thursday as a fast-moving snowstorm caught the region by surprise and wreaked havoc on drivers.

The southbound lanes of the highway were closed between the Rhode Island border and Exit 5, near North Attleboro, a nearly 10-mile stretch, after up to 100 vehicles were involved in spinouts and crashes starting around 11:15 a.m., said state police Sgt. David Paine.

The stretch of highway was closed until 4:30 p.m. Crashes also were reported on I-95 northbound, but those lanes remained open, Paine said.

There were reports of multiple injuries, but officials said none appeared life-threatening.

“There doesn’t seem to be one specific area where this is taking place. It seems to be spread out all across the region,” Paine said. Authorities were unsure if an initial accident had been responsible for a “chain reaction” causing the other accidents.

The injured were taken to area hospitals, while others were taken to a staging point at the Assembly of God Church in South Attleboro. Cars were being towed to that location so they could be retrieved by their owners, said state police Lt. Paul Maloney.

The storm also caused delays at Logan airport, with both departures and arrivals affected by the snow.

A number of planes, running low on fuel while waiting to land at Logan, were diverted to Bangor International Airport in Maine to refuel.

Authorities also were responding to reports of multiple accidents involving between 30 and 40 vehicles on Route 3 near Kingston and more than 20 vehicles on Route 24 near I-495, Paine said.

The accident happened as a band of heavy, wet snow moved into the area.

“Roads are extremely slick out there with this,” said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service at Taunton. “The roads had been warm over the last couple days, and it didn’t get supercold and the temperature’s been falling. That first snow melted, turned to ice, and now you’ve got snow on top, which makes for very bad conditions.”

Up to 8 inches were expected to accumulate in the southern part of the state and in Rhode Island. Winter storm warnings remained in effect for those areas through Thursday afternoon.

“It appears the storm came in rather suddenly, and may have caught motorists off guard,” Paine said.

The storm forced cancellations across the area, including Hockey East quarterfinal playoff games in Boston and Providence, R.I. Those games, Merrimack at Boston College and Boston University at Providence, were rescheduled for today.