Cement truck crash caused delays for nearly 5 hours
Delays were more than an hour on the Parkway West outbound
UPDATED 5:25 PM EDT Sep 08, 2015
PITTSBURGH, Pa. —The early-morning crash of a cement truck Tuesday on the Parkway West (I-376) outbound made a traffic mess with ripple affects across the Pittsburgh area that lasted until nearly noon.
Sky 4 over the Parkway West where a cement truck collided into a Jersey Barrier knocking it out of position and causing traffic delays for several hours during the morning drive. All major routes in the Pittsburgh region have been impacted along with Penn Ave.
The cement truck smashed into both the concrete median and the metal guardrail near the Carnegie interchange and created backups on the Parkway West inbound and outbound. Delays spread as far as the Parkway East inbound into the eastern suburbs.
"He completely slammed the jersey barrier clear over into inbound Parkway West traffic," said Pittsburgh's Action News 4 traffic reporter Sam Hall.
No one was reported injured but the crash stopped traffic completely at times and at other times had traffic restricted to a single lane in each direction.
"I was stuck. I had no idea why I was stuck. I couldn't tell, coming through the tunnel, what was going on at all," said Shawn Mozolak, of Brookline.
"Traffic's a mess here," said Michael Knight, of Dormont.
"Oh, it's really bad, sir," said a Pittsburgh Yellow Cab driver as he exited from the Fort Pitt Bridge and stopped at a red light before entering downtown.
100,000 people use the Parkway West daily and Monday was the first day back for many, after the long holiday weekend. The crash sent heavier rush hour traffic onto other major arteries and roads with lesser capacity.
"It's like a parking lot. It's moving very slowly," said Jamie Lamperski, of the North Hills.
"It was slow and you had to have the patience of a saint," said Cal Tedone, a shuttle driver, as he arrived in downtown Pittsburgh.
"The Parkway East was backed up at its peak until the Wilkinsburg interchange, which is maybe an hour and a half for motorists. Also, the Parkway North was backed up to I-79," said Steve Cowan, of PennDOT.
Some drivers vented their frustrations on social media.
"Holy heck, what's with this parkway traffic? #pittsburgh," said Dr. Brooke Morrill on Twitter.
"It took an hour and a half to get from Monroeville to town and the crash is on the other parkway," tweeted someone identified as Tsar.
"I feel bad for people who probably missed their flights out of PA. Yuck! Glad i'm on vacation!" wrote the user of Twitter account Mrs Gus.
"I would never take a job with a daily commute on the parkway 376 again. Not worth the aggravation," tweeted another commuter.
Cement truck accident snares traffic on Parkway West
The truck slammed into a median in the construction zone on the Parkway West in Carnegie.