PA Turnpike was closed between Breezewood and New Stanton Thursday night
PA Turnpike was closed between Breezewood and New Stanton Thursday night
PA Turnpike was closed between Breezewood and New Stanton Thursday night
A fire inside a tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike forced around 150 people to evacuate their cars overnight.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike has since reopened in both directions according to PennDOT. The westbound tunnel will remain closed for inspection. Meanwhile, the eastbound side of the tunnel is open, with a single lane of traffic in each direction.
According to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, this configuration will stay in place to ease traffic until the westbound tunnel can safely reopen.
Turnpike officials tell Pittsburgh’s Action News 4, 150 people from nearly 80 vehicles had to evacuate the tunnel. They were transported by bus to a PennDOT maintenance shed.
Video from Viviana Altieri shows heavy smoke from inside, as well as the emergency response.
“It really looked like a scene from Dante’s Inferno – without the flames,” Altieri, who is one of the driver’s who had to be evacuated, told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4. “But the firefighters were doing their job.”
All drivers were able to return to their to their vehicles around 2:45 a.m.
“We were all happy that we were safe,” Altieri said, “(Emergency responders) were really at the top of their duties and also with the communication to us.”
This is a Pennsylvania State Police investigation.
“On behalf of the PA Turnpike Commission, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to all of those who supported this event and worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of motorists and personnel, including the Pennsylvania State Police, local fire and EMS agencies, emergency management partners, and all supporting agencies.
Special recognition goes to our dedicated PA Turnpike maintenance, operations, traffic management, engineering teams, who supported customers and emergency operations, and worked to restore normal operations.
Lastly, a big thank you to our customers for their patience, cooperation and flexibility during the incident as crews worked to safely reopen the roadway.
We are committed to providing a safe, reliable and customer-valued toll road system and are proud of the collaborative effort demonstrated throughout the incident.”
ORIGINAL STORY: A fire inside the Allegheny Tunnel caused a closure of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Breezewood (Exit 161) and New Stanton (Exit 75) on Thursday night.
Traffic cameras showed several emergency vehicles at the eastbound and westbound entrances to the tunnel during the closure.
Emergency dispatchers said one person was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. There was no information on the patient’s condition.
Below are the detours that were announced by turnpike officials. Check @PATurnpikeAlert and 511pa.com for updates.
This is a developing story. Stay with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 for updates.
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