Hee, yeah, we get on at exit 8. Part of it is that the bridge into Northampton over the Connecticut River has only recently finished construction (it'd been under construction since my sophomore year), so that would guarantee ridiculous backups at all hours. Taking 9E instead of 9W is practically habit at this point. But it's only 40 minutes to the pike (about 20 miles, assuming an average speed of 30mph) via the backroads vs. nearly an hour (40+ miles, 7 of which are still on 2-lane stop-and-go Route 9) the other way around.