Pa. Highway Backup Now More Than a Day Long

Feb. 15, 2007— -- As night fell in Pennsylvania, authorities raced against the darkness and plunging temperatures to unsnarl a 50-mile traffic backup triggered by disabled tractor-trailers before slush turned back to ice and a disaster that had already lasted more than 24 hours continued into a second day.

Between Wednesday -- when the first accident occurred -- and Thursday afternoon, hundreds of Pennsylvania motorists had been trapped in their gridlocked vehicles for 12 hours or more. The National Guard, state police, highway workers and rescue agencies, had scraped, salted and applied chemicals. They had finally begun to get traffic moving by mid-afternoon Thursday.

But with nightfall may come freezing temperatures.

"Our concern now is its going to start getting dark and its getting cold," said trooper Linette Quinn, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police. "There's still a bunch of people out there."

Quinn said that state police and the National Guard transported people to shelters throughout the day and that the most important message to would-be motorists was to stay clear of Interstate I-78 and surrounding roads.

"That is our major message right now," Quinn said. "Avoid the area. Do not travel."

The National Guard had joined the rescue efforts at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver, a National Guard spokesman, told ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia.

Guard troops used 14 Humvees to deliver food, water, baby supplies and blankets to stranded motorists and to wake up truckers who slept in their rigs on the highway so the trucks could be moved and the miles-long traffic jam freed.

There were reports that at least some motorists were trapped for as long as 24 hours, according to news outlets in Pennsylvania.

As soon as one vehicle could be cleared away, another accident would occur, preventing plows and salt trucks from treating the road, said Ron Taylor, a state Department of Transportation spokesperson.

State police told ABC News that a lack of routes to the scene of the accident had hampered rescue workers throughout the day as numerous alternate roadways also became snarled behind newly disabled vehicles.

By Thursday morning, alternate and feeder routes, including Interstates 183, 81 and 80, were also shutting down. At one point least 100 disabled tractor-trailers were reported on I-183 alone, preventing any traffic movement, police said. The backup began when a tractor-trailer slid on a sheet of snow-covered ice and caused an accident.

Cornelius Wyatt told ABC News Radio on Thursday morning that he had been trapped in his vehicle since yesterday.

"When I got to around exit 15-exit 16, that's when traffic came to a standstill and I've been sitting ever since," Wyatt said.

Once the first vehicles blocked I-78 westbound, the backups began and the plows were prevented from removing the ice and snow.

By mid -afternoon it appeared the situation was going to improve, transportation officials said.

"Westbound traffic has been moving," Quinn, the state police spokesman, said at about 4 p.m.

Officials did not know how many cars were stranded, but estimated the number was in the hundreds. Some motorists had to be provided with gas, while abandoned cars had to be towed.

And Thursday evening, there was still a sense of urgency.

The Valentine's Day storm coated much of Pennsylvania with a slippery mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, shutting down thousands of schools and much of state government. It dumped 7 inches of snow on I-78 followed by a 3-inch crust of ice. Motorists were disgruntled about the condition of the road.

"It's February, it's a snowstorm," District Judge Gay Elwell, of Easton, Pa., told a local newspaper after sitting in the jam from 1:30 p.m. to after 9 p.m. Wednesday. "They had plenty of time to get ready for it. It boggles my mind that the traffic is tied up for eight hours and I don't know why."