People who live near Xfinity Center say traffic on back roads is a serious problem

MANSFIELD, Mass. — Traffic around the Xfinity Center in Mansfield has residents of many nearby neighborhoods singing the blues.

The frustration is caused by concert-goers using apps to avoid traffic, but that often means moving them off the highways and main roads.

“They were all jumping out of cars using people’s yards as bathrooms. They were just all over the place,” Gloria Penesis said.

One surveillance video shows cars going around backed up traffic on a road more than a mile from the center.

“Everyone was frantic. We were just huddled around trying to keep people off our property because there was no place to go. The cars were all stopped,” one resident said.

People who live near the venues want town officials to do something about the problem.

“When you have hundreds of cars coming through neighborhoods that generally don’t have any cars. It’s an issue,” Mansfield Selectman Mike Trowbridge.

One possible fix is that crowd-sourced traffic apps can change a setting on concert nights that would keep traffic to main roads, but that's not a sure thing.

Cox Media Group