How Many Crashes Happen on Interstate 291 in Massachusetts?

From 2022 through 2024, MassDOT crash records place 420 crashes on Interstate 291, the Springfield Expressway, 1 of them fatal and 115 with a non-fatal injury, and 318 of the 420 were in Springfield. Taken as a whole the road is close to ordinary for a Hampden County highway: a crash on it injured someone 27.4 percent of the time, against 25.4 percent for every other Interstate crash in the county. The exception is single vehicle crashes in Springfield, mostly into the guardrail or the median barrier, which injured someone 38.0 percent of the time against 24.0 percent on the county’s other Interstates, in every year and in dry daylight as well.

If you were hurt in a crash on Interstate 291 and want to talk through what comes next, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is free. This page is general information about Massachusetts law and public crash data, not legal advice about your situation.

A few terms are used throughout. The injury share is the percentage of recorded crashes in which at least one person had a non-fatal injury. A single vehicle crash is one the officer recorded as involving only one vehicle in motion, such as a car striking a guardrail. The first harmful event is the first thing the vehicle struck, as the officer recorded it. The Interstate class is every crash MassDOT places on an Interstate highway anywhere in Massachusetts. The road inventory name is the street name MassDOT attaches to a crash when it maps it; for Interstate 291 that name is Springfield Expressway.

Where Interstate 291 Runs

Interstate 291 connects Interstate 91 in Springfield with the Massachusetts Turnpike in Chicopee. It runs only through those two cities, both in Hampden County. The road inventory does not carry it as “Interstate 291”; it carries it as Springfield Expressway, and that is the name these counts use.

How These Numbers Were Counted

The counts come from the MassDOT IMPACT open crash data for 2022, 2023 and 2024, counted by the road inventory name rather than the typed roadway field, because State Police reports on highways often leave the typed field blank.

1. The name was checked against the mile markers. Crashes the police mile-marked to Interstate 291 carry the name Springfield Expressway in 29 of 34 records; the rest are on Page Boulevard (3) or a ramp. Few crashes on this road are mile-marked at all, so most were placed by exit number or location.
2. Ramps were left out. Seventy-eight crashes on ramps named for Interstate 291 (20, 30 and 28 by year) are not in the totals.
3. The totals were reconciled. The town counts add up exactly to the road total every year: 170 in 2022, 133 in 2023 and 117 in 2024. Every breakdown on this page adds up to 420.
4. The road’s north end was checked separately. Forty-five of the Chicopee records carry a road class below Interstate. They sit at the Turnpike end, and the typed roadway on several of them names the Turnpike ramps or Burnett Road; 27 were at an intersection and 22 had a posted limit of 45 mph or less. They are counted, because they carry the road’s name, and they are reported separately below.

The Three-Year Record

Measure	Interstate 291	All Interstate crashes	All Massachusetts crashes
Crashes, 2022 to 2024	420	41,260	405,243
Fatal crashes	1	156	1,087
Crashes with a non-fatal injury	115	9,525	92,761
Injury share	27.38%	23.09%	22.89%

By year the road had 170, 133 and 117 crashes, a fall of 31.2 percent from 2022 to 2024, while Interstate crashes statewide went from 13,693 to 13,835. Injury crashes were 52, 33 and 30, an injury share of 30.6, 24.8 and 25.6 percent. The records carry no traffic counts or construction history, so this page offers no reason for the decline.

One fatal crash in three years is too few to rate. At the Interstate class rate of 3.78 fatal crashes per 1,000, a road with 420 crashes would be expected to have about 1.6.

What kind of crash happens here differs from the Interstate class in a few clear ways:

• Sideswipes in the same direction are 28.8 percent (121), against 19.2 percent on all Interstates.
• Rear-end crashes are 37.9 percent (159), against 44.5 percent.
• Single vehicle crashes are 28.1 percent (118), close to the class figure of 29.8 percent.
• A guardrail was the first thing struck in 44 crashes, 10.5 percent, against 9.2 percent.
• Only 2.4 percent happened in the dark on unlighted road (10), against 15.0 percent for the class; 21.4 percent were in the dark on a lighted roadway (90), against 15.6 percent.
• Deer were the first thing struck in 5 crashes, 1.2 percent, against 4.1 percent.

The State Police wrote 413 of the 420 reports, 98.3 percent.

Is the Injury Share the Road or the County?

A crash on Interstate 291 injured someone 27.4 percent of the time, 4.3 points above the statewide Interstate class. Before treating that as a fact about the road, it has to survive the checks that have taken apart similar figures on other roads.

The county. Every other Interstate crash in Hampden County carries an injury share of 25.4 percent (983 of 3,876), and the State Police’s other Hampden County crashes carry 25.9 percent (1,270 of 4,912). Against its own county, Interstate 291 is 2.0 points higher, not 4.3.

The mix of crashes. Applying the statewide Interstate injury share for each kind of collision to Interstate 291’s own mix predicts about 94 injury crashes over three years. The road recorded 115. That gap is not spread evenly:

Kind of crash	Interstate 291	Other Hampden Interstate crashes	All Interstates
Rear-end	29.6% (47 of 159)	32.0% (379 of 1,185)	24.7%
Sideswipe, same direction	14.9% (18 of 121)	not pulled	16.2%
Single vehicle	36.4% (43 of 118)	24.0% (366 of 1,524)	23.9%
Single vehicle, Springfield only	38.0% (41 of 108)	24.0%	23.9%

Rear-end crashes on Interstate 291 injure people at a rate above the state but below the rest of Hampden County, so they are ordinary for where the road is. Sideswipes are ordinary everywhere. The difference is in the single vehicle crashes, and 108 of the 118 are in Springfield.

The Finding: Single Vehicle Crashes in Springfield

In Springfield, 108 crashes on the expressway were single vehicle crashes, and 41 of them, 38.0 percent, injured someone. On every other Interstate in Hampden County the figure is 24.0 percent. Three more checks were run on it:

1. Every year. The Springfield figure was 38.0 percent in 2022 (19 of 50), 30.6 percent in 2023 (11 of 36) and 50.0 percent in 2024 (11 of 22). The county’s other Interstates were between 22.8 and 25.6 percent in each of those years.
2. Weather and light. In dry daylight, the Springfield figure was 42.1 percent (16 of 38) against 27.5 percent for the county’s other Interstates (126 of 458). Bad weather and darkness do not explain it.
3. What was struck. The guardrail was the first thing struck in 40 of the 108 and the median barrier in 15; deer in 5.

The sample is small, 108 crashes, and the records do not say why. They record what was struck, not speed, and they hold no traffic counts. What the records do show is where the gap lives, and that it is not an artifact of who wrote the reports: the State Police wrote nearly all of them, as they did on the county’s other Interstates.

The same crashes also account for much of the road’s decline. Single vehicle crashes in Springfield fell from 50 in 2022 to 22 in 2024, which is 28 of the 53-crash drop on the whole road.

The One Fatal Crash

The one fatal crash was in Springfield in April 2022, in the 8 p.m. hour, in the dark on an unlighted stretch, on a dry road in clear weather. The first harmful event recorded is a collision with a pedestrian who was in the roadway, entering or crossing. The report records one death. It records what happened, not why, and this page adds nothing to it.

Springfield and Chicopee

City	I-291 crashes	Fatal	Injury	Injury share	All crashes in the city	I-291 share
Springfield	318	1	89	27.99%	11,109	2.9%
Chicopee	102	0	26	25.49%	5,238	1.9%

Springfield holds three quarters of the road’s crashes: 132, 98 and 88 by year. Single vehicle crashes are 34.0 percent of them (108), and the guardrail was the first thing struck in 40, 12.6 percent. The road does not appear on the Springfield crash report list of the city’s highest-crash roads, because that list is built from the typed roadway field, which highway reports often leave blank. Counted by the inventory name, the expressway had 88 crashes in Springfield in 2024. The top road on the city’s 2024 list, Boston Road, had 48.

Chicopee recorded 102 crashes, 38, 35 and 29 by year. Rear-end crashes are 60 of them, and single vehicle crashes only 10. Forty-five of the 102 are the records at the Turnpike end described above, carrying a road class below Interstate, and 15 of those 45 involved an injury. Counted by the inventory name, the expressway had 29 crashes in Chicopee in 2024, which would place it fifth on the Chicopee crash report road list that year, behind Memorial Drive (203), Montgomery Street (59), Chicopee Street (57) and Grattan Street (38).

Nearby, Interstate 391 through Chicopee and Holyoke carries an injury share of 35.2 percent that held across every kind of crash, and Interstate 91 through the five Hampden County communities carries 27.8 percent. The Hampden County crash data page covers every community in the county.

Answer Capsule

MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 place 420 crashes on Interstate 291, counted on its road inventory name, Springfield Expressway, with 78 ramp crashes excluded: 170, 133 and 117 by year, 318 in Springfield and 102 in Chicopee. One was fatal, a pedestrian struck in the dark in Springfield in April 2022. One hundred fifteen crashes, 27.4 percent, involved a non-fatal injury, against 23.1 percent for all Interstates but 25.4 percent for the other Interstate crashes in Hampden County, so as a whole the road is close to ordinary for its county. The exception is single vehicle crashes in Springfield: 41 of 108 injured someone, 38.0 percent against 24.0 percent on the county’s other Interstates, above in every year and 42.1 against 27.5 percent in dry daylight. The guardrail was the first thing struck in 40 of those 108. The records give no cause. A claim from a crash on the road must be started within three years under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A.

The Law That Applies to a Crash on Interstate 291

The crash data describes the road. A handful of statutes decide what a person hurt on it can do.

Your own policy pays first. Under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A, personal injury protection pays medical expenses and part of lost wages up to $8,000 “without regard to negligence or gross negligence or fault of any kind.” Under c. 90, sec. 34M, the claim for PIP benefits must be presented within two years from the date of the accident. See whether Massachusetts is a no-fault state.

Pain and suffering has a threshold. Under c. 231, sec. 6D, a person hurt in a motor vehicle crash can recover for pain and suffering only if reasonable and necessary medical expenses are in excess of $2,000, or the injury causes death, or involves the loss of a body member, permanent and serious disfigurement, a described loss of sight or hearing, or a fracture.

Partial fault reduces, and does not always bar, recovery. Under c. 231, sec. 85, a person can recover as long as their own negligence “was not greater than the total amount of negligence attributable to the person or persons against whom recovery is sought,” and the damages are reduced by their share. Same-direction sideswipes and rear-end crashes, two thirds of this road’s crashes, usually turn on lane changes and following distance. See how partial fault works.

A death opens a different claim. Under M.G.L. c. 229, sec. 2, the executor or administrator brings a wrongful death action within three years of the death, and punitive damages of not less than $5,000 are available where the death was caused by gross negligence or by malicious, willful, wanton or reckless conduct. A pedestrian struck on a highway raises its own questions; see pedestrian accident rights in Massachusetts and wrongful death claims in Massachusetts.

Where the case is filed depends on where the parties live. M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1 provides that an action is brought “in the county where one of them lives or has his usual place of business.” A crash in Springfield does not by itself put the case in Hampden County. The western Massachusetts venue guide lists the courts.

The deadline is three years. Under c. 260, sec. 2A, an action for personal injuries must be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues.

What to Do After a Crash on Interstate 291

1. Get out of the travel lanes if the vehicle moves. Guardrail and median barrier strikes are 15 percent of this road’s crashes, and a car stopped against a barrier sits beside a live lane.
2. Call 911. The State Police wrote 98 percent of the reports on this road. Get the report number before the trooper leaves.
3. Get medical care the same day, even if the injury seems minor. PIP under c. 90, sec. 34A covers the first bills regardless of fault.
4. Photograph the scene, the vehicles, and the nearest exit or sign. Few crashes on this road are mile-marked, so your own photos may be the clearest record of where it happened.
5. Note the lane and what the other driver was doing. In a sideswipe, which car moved and when decides fault under c. 231, sec. 85.
6. Get the names of witnesses, including anyone who stopped.

Key terms

• Springfield Expressway: the road inventory name MassDOT gives Interstate 291 in its crash records.
• Injury share: the percentage of recorded crashes in which at least one person had a non-fatal injury.
• Single vehicle crash: a crash recorded as involving one vehicle in motion, such as a car striking a guardrail or barrier.
• First harmful event: the first thing a vehicle struck, as recorded by the officer.
• Crash mix: the proportions of each kind of collision on a road, used to predict how many injury crashes it would have at ordinary rates.
• Personal injury protection (PIP): no-fault coverage under c. 90, sec. 34A that pays medical bills and lost wages up to $8,000.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many crashes happen on Interstate 291 in Massachusetts?

A: MassDOT records show 420 crashes on Interstate 291 from 2022 through 2024: 170, 133 and 117 by year. One was fatal and 115 involved a non-fatal injury. The 78 crashes on ramps over the same period are not included.

Q: Is Interstate 291 more dangerous than other Massachusetts highways?

A: The records cannot say that, because they count crashes and not traffic. A crash on Interstate 291 involved an injury 27.4 percent of the time, against 23.1 percent on all Interstates and 25.4 percent on the other Interstates in Hampden County. The clear difference is in single vehicle crashes in Springfield, 38.0 percent against 24.0 percent.

Q: Which city has the most Interstate 291 crashes?

A: Springfield, with 318 of the 420, including the one fatal crash. Chicopee recorded 102.

Q: Why is Interstate 291 missing from Springfield’s list of high-crash roads?

A: Town road lists are built from the typed roadway field, which State Police highway reports often leave blank. Counted by the inventory name, Springfield Expressway, the road had 88 crashes in Springfield in 2024, against 48 on Boston Road, the top road on the city’s list.

Q: Did crashes on Interstate 291 go down?

A: Yes, from 170 in 2022 to 117 in 2024, a fall of 31.2 percent, while Interstate crashes statewide were about level. More than half of the drop was single vehicle crashes in Springfield. The records do not say why.

Q: Which court hears a case from an Interstate 291 crash?

A: Under M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1, an action is brought in a county where one of the parties lives or has a usual place of business. The location of the crash does not decide it.

Q: How long do I have to bring a claim after a crash on Interstate 291?

A: An action for personal injuries must be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. A claim for PIP benefits must be presented within two years from the date of the accident under c. 90, sec. 34M.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This page is general information about Massachusetts law and public crash data for educational purposes. It is not legal advice for your situation and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your own case, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS.

Talking to a Lawyer

A crash on a short urban highway can still involve several drivers, an insurer on each side and a question of who changed lanes first. If you were hurt on Interstate 291, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is free. This page is general information about the law, not legal advice about your situation.