# Accidents can close highways, too



## MARC Rider (Jan 5, 2020)

It's not just Amtrak trains that are seriously delayed when there are accidents...

https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...nvolving-bus-trucks-in-pennsylvania/23893458/

Thoughts and prayers to all of the victims..

Note the following from the spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority:
_"It is likely that at least a portion of the turnpike will be closed for the rest of the day, DeFebo said."_
It's not easy to detour away from the Turnpike, especially once you get on. Exits are about 15 - 30 miles apart.


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## jis (Jan 5, 2020)

The one time I was stuck behind a pileup somewhere on PA Turnpike, they had us cross over the median to the other side at a suitable spot and drive back to exit the Turnpike at the first exit and detour around the blockage to get back on it and carry on. I thought they handled it very well.

The thing about roads is that there are many many more alternatives when something goes pear shaped, specially if the local traffic enforcement folks are competent.

Another place where this sort of thing happens more often than I care is on I-95 by Melbourne. Of course in that case we the locals are at the receiving end of it, since a three lane highways worth of traffic spills onto designated local roads to detour around the blockage, gumming up the works for us locals.


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## JRR (Jan 9, 2020)

jis said:


> The one time I was stuck behind a pileup somewhere on PA Turnpike, they had us cross over the median to the other side at a suitable spot and drive back to exit the Turnpike at the first exit and detour around the blockage to get back on it and carry on. I thought they handled it very well.
> 
> The thing about roads is that there are many many more alternatives when something goes pear shaped, specially if the local traffic enforcement folks are competent.
> 
> Another place where this sort of thing happens more often than I care is on I-95 by Melbourne. Of course in that case we the locals are at the receiving end of it, since a three lane highways worth of traffic spills onto designated local roads to detour around the blockage, gumming up the works for us locals.



Avoiding I 95 is the reason we took the Meteor from Boca to Baltimore/Wilmington or NYP when we lived down there. You could bank on at least one and usually more than one total storage enroute!


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## Thirdrail7 (Jan 9, 2020)

I wonder if anyone that was stuck in traffic started a thread about the length of the closure on a board somewhere.


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## AmtrakBlue (Jan 9, 2020)

Thirdrail7 said:


> I wonder if anyone that was stuck in traffic started a thread about the length of the closure on a board somewhere.


And complained about being served AmStew.


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## MARC Rider (Jan 12, 2020)

JRR said:


> Avoiding I 95 is the reason we took the Meteor from Boca to Baltimore/Wilmington or NYP when we lived down there. You could bank on at least one and usually more than one total storage enroute!


I drove back to DC on 95 from Hilton Head. We left right after lunch on a Friday, and had at least two sections of stop and go traffic in South Carolina, and then when we got to Lumberton, NC, it was just totally jammed. We managed to drop off the interstate and drove right through Lumberton and returned north of town and the source of the backup. Then we had another slow (but rolling) backup passing by Fayetteville. Finally, things cleared up and we made it to our night stop in Wilson. The next day, it was clear sailing right up to north of Fredricksburg, and then we had the usual DC metro mess north of Woodbridge up to the Potomac. They dropped me off at Union Station, and I took the train back to Baltimore. 
I can understand the traffic jams around Washington, but I was a bit surprised at the traffic in what appears to be rural North and South Carolina. OK, Fayetteville seems to be a decent sized small city, with the emphasis on "small." I can't believe the traffic it generates. And Lumberton? A town. 

After I drove that stretch, I wonder if the State of North Carolina would have any interest in running state-supported train service on the A line from Fayetteville north. (It might make sense to actually terminate the service in Florence, because they have a big yard there and presumably some sort of crew base, but that is in South Carolina, and I don't know whether South Carolina has any interest in pitching in their share of the funding. But then, the Downeaster runs without New Hampshire contributing anything, or at least that was the last I heard.)


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## jis (Jan 13, 2020)

JRR said:


> Avoiding I 95 is the reason we took the Meteor from Boca to Baltimore/Wilmington or NYP when we lived down there. You could bank on at least one and usually more than one total storage enroute!


I have never driven all the way from the Northeast to Florida or back. The few times I have driven has involved AutoTrain. Mostly I either take Amtrak or fly, more often the latter.


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## Qapla (Jan 13, 2020)

While taking I95 on south through Florida looks nice on the map ... driving it is another thing. You can drive right through Jacksonville on I95 ... and hope things run smoothly at the junction with I10 ... but, don't hold your breath. Of course, you can always take the "bypass" (295) and go around Jax - but, it may be more congested and backed up then just staying on 95.

Then, as you get near Daytona and the junction with I4 - be ready for another "parking experience" (I mean driving) - and that is on a good day when the relentless construction does not have traffic detoured.

Don't even ask about how bad it gets the further south you get ... and this is only one state that I95 goes through ... traffic on the 905 miles to NYC of I95 north of Florida is often just as bad as the 382 miles south of the state line.


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