Plans to close portion of Pennsylvania Turnpike postponed

BREEZEWOOD (AP) – Officials have postponed plans to close an 86-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike because workers need more time to prepare to retrieve a tractor-trailer that went over an embankment during the weekend’s snow storm.
Instead of closing Wednesday, the westbound lanes will close for approximately three hours starting about 9 a.m. Thursday from Breezewood to New Stanton. Traffic will be detoured onto Interstates 70 and 68 to U.S. Route 119, where vehicles can re-enter the toll road at New Stanton.
Turnpike officials say the more than 100-mile detour is necessary because of the volume of traffic being re-routed.
The same eastbound stretch of turnpike had to be closed Sunday so crews could remove more than 500 snowbound vehicles from the westbound lanes.