ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - Monday morning commuters got an unexpected slowdown in Andover after a hot air balloon landed right next to the highway.
The controlled landing happened near Route 125 and Route 28 along the Reading/Andover line.
“The pilot kept updating us were going to try for this field or a try of that parking lot,” said Jared Bowen, a WGBH reporter who was covering the ride for a story. “I was looking around and I was seeing these oncoming cars and tiny strip of land but at the same time I was looking at the pilot who seemed completely calm and confident and thought it doesn’t look great for me but if he’s confident I’m fine too and it ended up being a very soft, landing.”
The balloon is actually an art piece created by Doug Aitken.
“This flying mirrored balloon moves across the landscape and at different places it stops where we create festivals, conversations…” Aitken said about the project.
“He’s trying to create community he wants to take art out of museum walls and put it out in the public and I think we did that in a very grand way today,” Bowen said.
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