50-vehicle crash closes I-80 in Pennsylvania

2/19/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SHAWVILLE, Pa. — A chain-reaction crash involving roughly 50 vehicles on an icy roadway will leave the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 in western Pennsylvania closed until about 10 p.m.

Marla Fannin, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, revised the estimate after previously saying officials hoped to reopen the lanes earlier.

The pileup near the Clearfield exit early today involved several tractor-trailers and one gasoline tanker. Officials at Clearfield Hospital say they are treating 14 accident victims, all of whom had minor to moderate injuries.

Rain falling on frozen ground caused the icy conditions.

The closed lanes are in a 13-mile stretch between the Clearfield and Phillipsburg exits.

Ice also closed I-80 lanes between Loganton and Lock Haven, about 50 miles east of the crash. They reopened about 11 a.m.