Monday, February 19, 2007

Nightmare on Interstate 78 on Feb. 14

For those who may have missed it, some motorists were stranded on Interstate 78 for more than 24 hours.

Interstate 78 was jammed by 6 p.m. Wednesday evening [Feb. 14, 2007], and the first signs of help didn't come until 2 a.m. Thursday, leaving thousands of drivers stranded in the freezing cold overnight. The "good news" was that by Thursday night that stranded motorists and vehicles were finally off the highway. Paul Watson of Glasgow, Ky., was hauling a trailer full of shoes from Nashville to New Jersey and spent 25 hours by the side of the road.

At its worst, traffic along I-78 was backed up from just west of Allentown all of the way to the I-81 split in Lebanon County.

National Guardsmen and volunteers ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to drivers along a 50-mile stretch of I-78. Anyone impacted by the incident is encouraged to email their comments to stormresponse@pasen.gov.

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AMTonline reported:

In Pennsylvania, the last of hundreds of motorists stranded on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 78 were freed Friday, but several other highways remained shut as crews struggled to clear ice and snow following the monster storm that was blamed for at least 24 deaths in the Northeast and Midwest.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell apologized for the state's "totally unacceptable" handling of the storm and the I-78 tie-up, where some motorists were stranded for as long as 24 hours. He blamed an "almost total breakdown in communication" among state agencies.

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One would have thought that in the year 2007, state officials who close an Interstate would think to close the on-ramps to the interstate, but they didn't. One would think that state officials managing research programs would know about 35 USC 271(e)(1), but they don't. One would think state officials in the embryonic stem cell area would understand the significance that no one in the world has come close to doing what Hwang Woo Suk claimed to do in human SCNT. If they do know, they sure aren't talking about it.

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