The Labor Day exodus out of the state's beach vacation spots yielded the requisite traffic jams yesterday.
A fatal accident in Yarmouth in the morning snarled traffic in the area, police said, though it had cleared by last night's crush of returning traffic. Elsewhere, a rollover on the Massachusetts Turnpike near the Weston-Natick line created an afternoon snarl for westbound drivers, and slowed eastbound traffic.
Drivers leaving Cape Cod, however, could take some heart as they crossed the Sagamore Bridge: The much-hated rotary will be no more, come next summer.
Construction of a flyover project, which will replace the traffic circle with a grade-separated interchange, is expected to be completed by May.
``I won't miss the rotary. I don't think anyone will miss the rotary," said J. Baggs , a 25-year resident of Sandwich. ``It's an accident waiting to happen."
Tourism in the state's top summer vacation spots has been struggling to rebound from slowdowns since Sept. 11, 2001.
Industry officials say that 2005, so far, has been the best year since the terror attacks. This year's tourism revenues are on target to match 2005, but they are not expected to best it.
A few numbers tell part of the story on the Cape and the Islands:
The Steamship Authority carried 1.29 million passengers to Martha's Vineyard from Jan. 1 to Aug. 14, down by 353 from the same time last year; it carried 309,884 passengers to Nantucket this year, down by 2,505 from same time last year, according to data provided by the Authority.
Daily traffic for the Bourne and Sagamore bridges was 111,224 vehicles in June, a drop of nearly 4 percent from June 2005; it was 124,431 in July, a decrease of 3 percent from July 2005, according to Chamber of Commerce figures.
There were some bright spots. Visitors to the Cape Cod National Seashore increased: The June figure was 31,654, up 14 percent from last year, and July saw 53,763 visitors, an increase of 17 percent from last year. Visitors to the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum increased by 1 percent.
The mediocre Cape numbers contrasted with those in the state as a whole. Figures released last week said that occupancy rates for June and July were up 3.2 percent, according to Massachusetts tourism officials.
