Dangerous winds lead to turnpike restrictions

State News

Discussion

October 29, 2012

Dangerous winds lead to turnpike restrictions

Anonymous MEADVILLE TRIBUNE The Meadville Tribune Mon Oct 29, 2012, 10:04 AM EDT

HARRISBURG — Due to the dangerous wind speeds associated with Hurricane Sandy, beginning at 10 a.m. today the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) will temporarily reduce the speed limit to 45 mph and restrict certain types of vehicles on some southeast Pa. roadways.

PennDOT is urging motorists to avoid unnecessary travel but those who must head out will see speeds reduced to 45 mph on the following highways:

    •    Interstate 76 in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties;

    •    Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, Bucks and Delaware counties;

    •    Interstate 476 in Delaware and Montgomery counties;

    •    Interstate 676 in Philadelphia;

    •    Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties;

    •    U.S. Route 1 Extension in Philadelphia;

    •    U.S. Route 1 in Bucks, Philadelphia, Delaware and Chester counties;

    •    U.S. Route 30 Bypass in Chester County;

    •    Route 63 (Woodhaven Expressway) in Philadelphia;

    •    U.S. Route 202 in Chester County;

    •    Route 309 in Bucks and Montgomery counties;

    •    U.S. Route 422 in Montgomery County; and

    •    Route 611 Bypass in Bucks County.

Also, in conjunction with similar restrictions imposed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, these types of vehicles will be prohibited from traveling on the speed-restricted roadways:

    •    Class 9 vehicles (Overweight and over-dimensional trucks);

    •    Empty straight trucks;

    •    Large Combination Vehicles (tandem trailers and doubles);

    •    Tractors hauling empty trailers;

    •    Trailers pulled by passenger vehicles;

    •    Motorcycles; and

    •    Recreational Vehicles, or RVs.

PennDOT and the PTC may expand these restrictions to other parts of the state later today. Vehicles in these classifications should pull over to a safe area and wait for the restriction to be lifted.

Although PennDOT recommends not traveling during intense storms, motorists can check road conditions on more than 2,900 miles of state roads by calling 5-1-1 or visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, average traffic speeds on urban interstates and access to more than 670 traffic cameras. Regional Twitter pages and personal alerts are also available on the 511PA website.

Travelers who must be on the roadways should be sure that they have an emergency kit packed in their vehicles. A basic kit should include non-perishable food, water, blanket, small shovel and warm clothes. When preparing an emergency kit, motorists should take into account special needs of passengers such as baby food, pet supplies or medications and pack accordingly.

PennDOT also reminds citizens that information such as checklists for emergency kits and templates for emergency plans, as well as other information and volunteer

Text Only

State News

Lawmakers target payments to unions in proposed legislation
-Bills that would weaken unions — including the powerful public sector unions that represent 300,000 state workers — have been introduced by a Crawford County state representative and a fellow Republican from Union County.

May 13, 2013 1 Photo
Dems push for background checks on all gun sales in Pa.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane and a group of Democratic state lawmakers have called for a House vote on a bill that would expand background checks to include all gun sales in the Keystone State.

April 29, 2013 1 Photo
Abortion provider won’t testify, call witnesses
A Philadelphia abortion provider won’t testify or call witnesses at his capital murder trial, leaving jurors to weigh five weeks of prosecution evidence.

April 24, 2013
Gun rights backers march at state Capital
David Knight helped organize three busloads of people who woke up in the middle of the night to make the long journey from Beaver County to Harrisburg in time for a 10 a.m. Second Amendment rally.

April 24, 2013
Paterno family speaks at child abuse awareness event
On the night before he died, Joe Paterno scrawled a message that his wife, Sue, did not find until after the legendary Penn State coach had passed away.

April 11, 2013
Routine Pa. stop nets $1 million in heroin
State police found much more than expected when an officer stopped a car on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for driving 14 miles over the posted speed limit.

April 10, 2013 1 Photo
State police, other Pa. workers making more than $100K just before retirement boost pension payments
Three state police troopers wracked up so much overtime last year that they were paid more than the head of the state police or the attorney general. One trooper picked up almost $100,000 in overtime, so he was paid more than the governor.

March 22, 2013
No more school property tax? New state plan would get it done
The authors of legislation to eliminate school property taxes by increasing the state sales and income taxes argued that the time is finally right to eliminate an extremely unpopular tax, while pointing to an analysis completed by the state’s Independent Fiscal Office as evidence that their plan will work.

March 14, 2013
The happiest, saddest states according to Twitter Did your state make the list? Researchers at the University of Vermont analyzed more than 10 million tweets from 2011 to find the happiest and saddest states in America.
February 22, 2013 1 Photo
State out to stop unemployment payments to county jail inmates
A new state effort to prevent county inmates from collecting unemployment has already saved Pennsylvania an estimated $18 million in improper payments, a Labor Department spokeswoman said.

February 21, 2013
More State News Headlines

State News

Search Results

Discussion

Dangerous winds lead to turnpike restrictions

Site Map

Contact Us