I-80 Poconos area in Pennsylvania...stranded vehicles

[DiskDoctr]

They are still stranded for 16+ hours, avoid it if you can.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/megabus-heading-to-pittsburgh-stuck-on-interstate-for-over-15-h...

As a PA resident, I apologize for our state's 3rd world country level responses to these kinds of incidents over the past few years on MAJOR HIGHWAYS (including Turnpike).

Previous Governors would have been in a helicopter going to the scene to resolve the issue and push stranded truck off the road.

Not too long ago the Turnpike had similar issues and they wouldn't even move the concrete dividers to allow people to use the other, clear and closed side of the road to escape.

Sorry, warning you is the best I can do from here. Be safe and always carry a winter emergency kit and supplies for at least 24 hrs with you 🙂

[bid_time]

DiskDoctr wrote:

rrupert wrote:
The concrete dividers on the turnpike are permanently built and can't be moved, unlike the temporary ones on construction projects.

I've seen them moved and being moved. What the difference is, I wouldn't know 😉

The concrete jersey barriers on The freeway do not move - they are very much permanent. The one used in construction zones can move. The ones in PA are the same as the rest of the US, this is governed by US DOT for all federal aid highways.

[DiskDoctr]

rrupert wrote:
The concrete dividers on the turnpike are permanently built and can't be moved, unlike the temporary ones on construction projects.

I've seen them moved and being moved. What the difference is, I wouldn't know 😉

A little preparation for this next round:

http://www.penndot.gov/pages/all-news-details.aspx?newsid=452

Beginning at midnight on Tuesday, PennDOT will impose a ban on empty straight trucks, large combination vehicles (tandem trailers and double trailers), tractors hauling empty trailers, trailers pulled by passenger vehicles, motorcycles and recreational vehicles, or RVs, on:

Interstate 78 from the junction with Interstate 81 in Lebanon County to the New Jersey line.
I-80 from the junction with Interstate 81 to the New Jersey line.
I-81 from the Maryland line to the New York State line.
I-84 from the junction with Interstate 81 to the New York State line.
I-380 from the junction with Interstate 80 to the junction with Interstate 81.
At the same time, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will prohibit these vehicles from traveling the northeastern extension between the Lehigh Tunnel and Clarks Summit.

Additionally, at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, all commercial vehicles will be banned on I-380 and I-84 within Pennsylvania.

[rrupert]

DiskDoctr wrote:
They are still stranded for 16+ hours, avoid it if you can.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/megabus-heading-to-pittsburgh-stuck-on-interstate-for-over-15-h...

As a PA resident, I apologize for our state's 3rd world country level responses to these kinds of incidents over the past few years on MAJOR HIGHWAYS (including Turnpike).

Previous Governors would have been in a helicopter going to the scene to resolve the issue and push stranded truck off the road.

Not too long ago the Turnpike had similar issues and they wouldn't even move the concrete dividers to allow people to use the other, clear and closed side of the road to escape.

Sorry, warning you is the best I can do from here. Be safe and always carry a winter emergency kit and supplies for at least 24 hrs with you 🙂

The concrete dividers on the turnpike are permanently built and can't be moved, unlike the temporary ones on construction projects.

[DiskDoctr]

According to the latest updated articles, the buses (and presumably the other vehicles) have made it to their destinations. One was 24hrs.

We are in a ridge, known for snow when others don't see it. As such, we are mostly self-sufficient. When our locality is overwhelmed by storms, we open the doors and fire up our own equipment and start keeping our roads and neighbors open.

We can't get to all the spots, but figure if we can take care of what we can reach, it frees up the resources for other places.

Our private emergency plan includes barrels of fuel, a tractor on a trailer, chainsaws and chains. Clear it, fix it, build it as we go.

We're just simple folks and have nowhere near the budget of PennDOT and their fleet of construction contractors.

In 24hrs I could almost drive my little tractor from one side of the state to the other.

The pics I saw of this incident showed the opposite direction empty- presumably closed- and unused. Same thing with the Turnpike strandings. Not a soul had the brains to move 3 of the concrete barriers and use the opposite side to rescue the stranded drivers from the traffic accidents.

The moral? Keep your supplies and stay self-reliant, something many of this groups are pretty good at already.

The second point: Fellow members alerting others about major weather or traffic issues can be "life savers" sometimes literally with floods, landslides, snow and ice, etc.

Thanks to all who take the time to help others avoid trouble :C

[Lantley]

rrupert wrote:

Fizz wrote:
Basically, some people are idiots.

It's winter, check the weather, be prepared. STAY HOME.

Up here winter storms are a way of life, happens two, three times a year.
I know many people I worked with would go from garage at home to garage at work lightly dressed for work, jacket and tie or heels and skirt. Howling winds, 20 below and not prepared.... idiots

I think there are many people that never check weather reports before they head out the door.

I don't think it is as simple as checking the weather. I don't think the truckers are allowed /able to just call in. Maybe they should be, but commerce does not stop. The rat race must go on. The roads remain open until they are closed.
The only way to avoid all of this is to preemptively close the roads as a precaution. Who is going to sign off on that!
What happens when the roads are closed and the storm never actually comes? We shut down schools in the mid Atlantic with zero snow on the ground do we need to apply the same approach to the highways?

[rrupert]

Fizz wrote:
Basically, some people are idiots.

It's winter, check the weather, be prepared. STAY HOME.

Up here winter storms are a way of life, happens two, three times a year.
I know many people I worked with would go from garage at home to garage at work lightly dressed for work, jacket and tie or heels and skirt. Howling winds, 20 below and not prepared.... idiots

I think there are many people that never check weather reports before they head out the door.

[Fizz]

Basically, some people are idiots.

It's winter, check the weather, be prepared. STAY HOME.

Up here winter storms are a way of life, happens two, three times a year.
I know many people I worked with would go from garage at home to garage at work lightly dressed for work, jacket and tie or heels and skirt. Howling winds, 20 below and not prepared.... idiots

[leggy]

We were there to go skiing, arrived at bushkill falls on Thursday, forecast changed from 1-3" to 8-12" in a hurry. We were out of power starting at 11am Friday and looks like they won't get power back until Wednesday. We had to come home because of heat issues at home, not to mention still no heat or power in condo we rented.
Every road we tried was closed due to trees, poles and wires across roads, not from lack of plowing. Believe me, I'm not defending Penn Dot. We finally went to Jersey and then headed north. Our biggest issue was fuel.. no power, no pumps! Ended up buying 5 gal of off road of a contractor.

[rrupert]

skipro3 wrote:
It would seem to me, that the authorities, knowing that the pattern is repeated over and over with truckers on major routes during winter storms, would shut them down to the truckers. That's what we do here in California. The Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation holds all trucks from the California/Nevada state line to the East and the 2,000' elevation to the West until the weather improves.
No, the truckers don't like it, but they expect it and can plan for it because it's the policy.

It would be nice if that could be done here in PA but the truckers would be shut down half of the winter. The supply line to the northeast crosses the state and we wouldn't dare disrupt that. Those people could run out of toilet paper.

[rrupert]

soren wrote:
As a past resident of the area, I have friends living in the immediate area who have no power at their homes, as a result of long runs of power poles SNAPPED clean off at ground level, due to winds were up to 90 MPH . If anybody had the mistaken impression that this is just some typical winter storm that was mismanaged by all the evil state and local bureaucrats, it isn't that simple. When the giant noreaster hit the D.C area during the Obama years, and the city was closed for nearly a week, I spent 30 hours stuck and crawling on rt 81 in VA. What I learned in that mess is that much of the issue is caused by clueless, incompetent truck drivers. Traveling the entire Shenandoah Valley, I got to see hundreds and hundreds of class eight trucks crashed. Any attempt to get anything accomplished to clear a blockage in the road ONLY happened when the VA state police would go from cab to cab and tell each trucker to hold, move forward, yield to the plows etc....Otherwise some of these fools seemed to think that the best way forward was full speed ahead, until they were crashed in the medians or over the sides, and twisted up in big tangles on climbs. I really believe that, absent the truck traffic, 90% of the problems would never of happened.
Even if the majority of truckers on the road are competent professionals, there is a significant minority that haven't got a clue, and little experience with operating in a blizzard. On a major trucking corridor with tens of thousands of rigs a day heading in and out of the NYC and New England markets, a significant blizzard, with hurricane winds, is always going to be ugly.

I think truckers are held to such tight schedules that they are almost forced to keep plowing ahead or face penalties from their employers. Safety should always take priority but some don't see it that way. I've driven in some pretty tough weather where visibility is very poor and the trucks keep rolling along. They must have radar in their cabs.

[Ski_Pro_3]

It would seem to me, that the authorities, knowing that the pattern is repeated over and over with truckers on major routes during winter storms, would shut them down to the truckers. That's what we do here in California. The Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation holds all trucks from the California/Nevada state line to the East and the 2,000' elevation to the West until the weather improves.
No, the truckers don't like it, but they expect it and can plan for it because it's the policy.

[soren]

As a past resident of the area, I have friends living in the immediate area who have no power at their homes, as a result of long runs of power poles SNAPPED clean off at ground level, due to winds were up to 90 MPH . If anybody had the mistaken impression that this is just some typical winter storm that was mismanaged by all the evil state and local bureaucrats, it isn't that simple. When the giant noreaster hit the D.C area during the Obama years, and the city was closed for nearly a week, I spent 30 hours stuck and crawling on rt 81 in VA. What I learned in that mess is that much of the issue is caused by clueless, incompetent truck drivers. Traveling the entire Shenandoah Valley, I got to see hundreds and hundreds of class eight trucks crashed. Any attempt to get anything accomplished to clear a blockage in the road ONLY happened when the VA state police would go from cab to cab and tell each trucker to hold, move forward, yield to the plows etc....Otherwise some of these fools seemed to think that the best way forward was full speed ahead, until they were crashed in the medians or over the sides, and twisted up in big tangles on climbs. I really believe that, absent the truck traffic, 90% of the problems would never of happened.
Even if the majority of truckers on the road are competent professionals, there is a significant minority that haven't got a clue, and little experience with operating in a blizzard. On a major trucking corridor with tens of thousands of rigs a day heading in and out of the NYC and New England markets, a significant blizzard, with hurricane winds, is always going to be ugly.

[rrupert]

In many cases you will find a semi-truck in the beginning of the pileup or a stupid car driver leading the pack. Most times speed and the lack of common sense being the major contributing factors, not to mention the weather conditions. Once the road is plugged full of vehicles there isn't much the snowplows can do until all that mess is cleared out.

Take note of where I live, the snow capital of PA.

[DiskDoctr]

We're no strangers to ice and snow and I-80 is legendary for wild weather swings.

We don't get bent out of shape for a few hours delay here and there.

But this is the 3rd MAJOR stranding of motorists on a limited access roadway I can recall in the past 2yrs or so. 16+ hours on the Turnpike TWICE in the past 2 years and now this one on I-80.

Without getting political or anything that makes this warning to fellow members get deleted, I can say the "response" to these situations is one that definitely puts travelers in significant danger.

Do you have enough fuel to idle your vehicle for 24hrs? What about food, water, bathrooms? Kids, pets? Bitter cold?

As more of our fellow RV'ers are heading out and planning routes through our state, it is definitely worth sounding the warning to avoid this trouble spot right now.

I am having trouble getting an up to date status on the situation. Almost like it is a "secret"

If anyone has a link or resource for current status, please share it.

I talked with some buddies, we're considering heading Northwest and violating some "traffic laws" to get people out of there.