On Friday, Dec. 20, about 5:30 p.m., I was driving home east on Route 9 from South East Street in Amherst. It was terrifying. My good snow tires had zero traction on the icy surface. Vehicles were going 10 mph yet still skidding.

At one point I saw a car from the westbound lane slide into my lane; I feared I was headed into a collision, but luckily the other driver got control just in time. I couldn’t imagine getting through seven miles of this!

But as soon as Route 9 became a state road, the surface was merely wet and the traffic was able to move, safely, at a normal rate. Snow and sleet had been coming down for at least three hours. It was rush hour on a Friday afternoon, yet the Amherst section of the road had not been salted. The potholes were bad enough, and now this. Deplorable!

Iris L. Broudy

Belchertown