Traffic alert for Pennsylvanians going to CP

Hello fellow Pennsylvanians!

In case you have not heard, the west gate of the turnpike (Ohio border) will be closed beyond Memorial Day weekend due to an explosion following a trailer accident at the toll booths. If you are traveling to CP this weekend (like myself) you will need to take one of 2 detours...

-Get off the turnpike at Exit 3 (Cranberry/Butler) and get on 79 north to 80 west (warning: be prepared for lots of traffic in the Cranberry area due to multiple construction projects!)

-Get off at Exit 1, and take the Beaver Valley Expressway (51) and I think it also connects to 80 somewhere in Ohio (but not sure)

This will add quite a bit of time to your travels, so you'll want to leave early!

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Neil
Pittsburgh, PA
MF Count: 00 :(

HEy, make sure you call the PDOT or maybe the local AAA. I saw this morning PA will have two westbound lanes open this morning, they hope to have four opened by the end of the day. They are still trying to get all truck traffic off the turnpike at exit 3.
Good luck on your adventure.

Hmmm... the report I heard (KDKA) said that all lanes would be closed through the weekend. I didn't find any information on this at either the PA Turnpike website (http://www.paturnpike.com/) or PADOT's website (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/)

Still, I think I'll play safe and leave very early, and take some scenic back-roads..

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Neil
Pittsburgh, PA
MF Count: 00 :(

Yea, that is what the "offical report" was early this morning however Fox8 out of Cleveland was reporting live from the interchange this morning and around 6:30 a.m. a PA trooper came over while they were on the air and chased them away from the road because some lanes were opening. Later this morning around 7:00a.m. when they reported again from the scene the report was 2 lanes this a.m. 4 by the end of the day.
I agree with you about some "backroads"
If you really want to take a scenic route head NORTH all the way to Route 6/20 and follow the shoreline of Lake Erie right to the Point.

Driving home this morning (from CP! ;) ) there were two westbound gates open coming from PA. The damaged gates are completely gone, including the overhead portions -- I'm not sure if they got ripped off in the accident, or were removed because of damage later.

The accident occured while I was on the way to CP (we apparently got through shortly before it occurred!) and I heard about it on the news at the Breakers Express...

Hopefully they'll get this cleaned up soon.

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--Greg
http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/ *** This post was edited by GregLeg1 on 5/25/2000. ***