Pennsylvania Reopens Interstate 78
Update: Pennsylvania has reopened Interstate 78, which had been shut down following Wednesday’s Mid-Atlantic blizzard that stranded more than 200 motorists, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Thursday afternoon.
PennDOT said a 45-mph limit remains in effect for I-78, but lifted that limit and vehicle restrictions from all other Pennsylvania interstates, expressways and state routes.
A stretch of I-78 through the Lehigh Valley and Berks County was one of six interstates that Gov. Ed Rendell (D) ordered closed Wednesday due to whiteout conditions during the blizzard, which affected the entire Mid-Atlantic region.
The interstate was opened after emergency officials cleared more than 200 vehicles stranded along it since Wednesday afternoon, PennDOT said.
The blizzard dumped about a foot of snow in the greater Washington area and more to the north: 16 inches in Philadelphia, 20 in central New Jersey, and up to 16 in and around New York, AP said.
It caused the cancellation of 5,700 flights across the U.S. Wednesday and more than 1,000 Thursday, while causing power outages from North Carolina to the Northeast, affecting at least 178,000 customers, Bloomberg reported.
