Essex County

First signs of Halloween: Salem announces planned events and road closures for October

SALEM, Mass. — The first signs of Halloween appear to be road closure signs, as the city of Salem announced Tuesday their planned events and accompanying traffic patterns for the month of October.

The Salem Police Department say that driving into the downtown area is probably not a good idea, especially on weekends.

“Traffic is heavy and parking is severely limited,” Chief Dominick Pangallo said. “Plan to drive to a free satellite parking lot and ride the free shuttle, take the Salem Ferry, or ride the commuter rail.”

All parking information and closures are subject to change, and police will close any street at any time if they deem a public safety issue exists.

The city announced the following weekend closures:

October weekends: October 1 & 2, 8 & 9, 15 & 16, 22 & 23, and 29 & 30

Essex Street from Hawthorne Boulevard to New Liberty Street and Essex Street from Barton Square to Washington Street will be closed to through traffic and no on-street parking will be allowed from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. Access to the Museum Place Garage will be via Brown Street only.

There will also be “No Parking” postings on portions of Washington Square North and South during the weekends in October, reserved for authorized event vehicles.

The mayor’s office also announced the parking and road closure plan for Halloween:

Halloween: October 31

Halloween events will include multiple road closures and heavy traffic impacts for the entire day and night. Note that heavy traffic and likely road closures are also anticipated for the weekend prior to Halloween, October 29 and October 30. Visitors for the weekend and on Halloween are strongly encouraged to take the commuter rail or ferry to get to Salem. Traffic impacts will be significant, including on highways leading to the City. Expect major traffic impacts on Route 114 and Route 1A, as well as likely impacts and delays on Route 128.

Downtown Salem streets will close to all traffic no later than 4:00 p.m.

Please note that the MBTA closes the MBTA Salem garage from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Halloween. Cars will not be permitted to enter or exit the garage between these hours.

For more information about upcoming events in the City of Salem and accompanying road closures, click here.