Road to nowhere

Top state officials profusely thanked the guardsmen, firefighters, and others who helped keep stranded travelers safe after last weekend's snowstorm brought about the state's latest impromptu turnpike tailgate party. And they certainly deserve credit for preventing the worst, as do the civilians who helped each other during the ordeal. But more than gratitude, the Wolf administration and the Turnpike Commission owe emergency workers and the public a promise that this will be the last in a long series of dangerous surprise sleepovers on Pennsylvania's highways.

Gov. Wolf and Turnpike Commission Chairman Sean Logan apologized to the trapped motorists and promised a thorough review, all of which was welcome as far as it went. The trouble is that this sequence of events has become familiar enough to cast doubt on the value of further analysis.

Last weekend's backup apparently began Friday night with an accident involving two tractor-trailers on a snowy, steep, construction-narrowed stretch of the turnpike east of Pittsburgh. It ultimately marooned more than 500 vehicles, including several busloads of young athletes and antiabortion protesters, in some cases for more than 24 hours.

This isn't as remarkable as it should be in the commonwealth. Less than two years ago, post-snowstorm pileups mired more than 100 vehicles on the turnpike in Bucks County for much of Valentine's Day. During a winter storm around the same date in 2007, hundreds of motorists were stranded on Interstates 78, 81, and 80 for periods exceeding 24 hours, drawing an apology from then-Gov. Ed Rendell.

And these are only the most extraordinary examples over the past decade; many more foul-weather crashes have forced drivers to camp on Pennsylvania highways for hours. Just two weeks ago, according to Somerset's Daily American, a sudden snowfall and another tractor-trailer crash not far from the scene of last weekend's pileup stranded hundreds of motorists for five hours.

Besides needlessly impeding travel for hours or days and risking motorists' safety, the atypical accumulation of such incidents raises questions about a turnpike agency already known for waste and corruption.

For all the loose talk of "driver error" and perfect storms that has followed these emergencies, the fact is that a thoroughfare open to millions is bound to attract a significant number of drivers no matter how dire conditions become - and that some of them won't drive very carefully. Turnpike officials would seem to have two options under the circumstances: maintain the road or close it. They have already proven that doing neither has predictable results.