Pocono News Section

6 Tractor Trailers Involved in Pile-up on Foggy I-81

6 Tractor Trailers Involved in Pile-up on Foggy I-81 - Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 11:45PM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009 @ 11:45pm EST
DORRANCE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY - Interstate 81 came to a grinding halt Sunday night after a pileup on a foggy stretch of the highway in Luzerne County.

A half-dozen big trucks and two smaller vehicles tangled around 7:00 p. m. just north of the I-81/I-80 junction, shutting down the northbound lanes and leaving behind destruction and injury.

Tractor trailers torn open like tin cans littered the northbound lanes of I-81 north of Hazleton. At least 6 big rigs were among the smashed vehicles that turned the highway into what some say looked like a war zone.

Other drivers stuck in the backlog took in the horrifying sight. "There are trucks smashed, annihilated. There are cars in there that are just completely totaled," said Andrew Zehner of McAdoo.

Roads that were icy earlier in the day weren't the problem. Instead, pea soup-thick fog made travel dangerous for unsuspecting drivers.

"Coming up over the mountain, it was really foggy. Visibility became less and less," said Jeremy Carl of Nanticoke. "There were just brake lights everywhere. I mean we stopped. We came to a very abrupt stop. I heard people's screeching tires behind us."

"Very scary. I came up over the hill and I was just... I was slowing down and almost hit the guy in front of me," said Zehner.

Despite being stuck in traffic for hours, Jeremy Carl and the other drivers unharmed count their blessings. "We kept saying, wow, you know if the family didn't stop us like for that one extra hug or that one last little thing -- drive safe -- you know, we might have been in that," he said.

State police from the Hazleton barracks said there were no life-threatening injuries. It took more than 12 hours to fully reopen the highway.