On I-95 feeder roads, what rush hour?
Traffic in Port Richmond yesterday was a mess in the morning, after a lot of motorists were caught unaware that I-95 had been severed near Richmond Street and drove straight into a detour.
Traffic in Port Richmond yesterday was a mess in the morning, after a lot of motorists were caught unaware that I-95 had been severed near Richmond Street and drove straight into a detour.
It was a mess all day.
And it was a mess during the evening rush - though by that time anyone who had read a newspaper, listened to the radio, or watched television should have known to stay clear of the area.
Those motorists did not heed PennDot spokesman Gene Blaum's advice: "Stay off 95! Use mass transit if you can. And if you have to use the interstate, give yourself an extra hour or so to get to where you're going."
The streets near the freeway from the Betsy Ross Bridge to Old City were jammed, especially Aramingo Avenue, which had the misfortune of being designated as the official detour route for the East Coast's busiest highway, an artery that carries 180,000 vehicles a day, at the spot where a support column was found to be weakened.
The jams meant problems for some businesses and opportunities for others.
Consider the Arby's restaurant at 2560 Aramingo Ave., whose staff put up a sign that read:
Traffic Relief
.95 Regular
Roast Beef
It helped.
"This is unbelievable. I'm bringing them in," Carmen Moyet, the night manager, said while looking out at the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Police officers also were benefiting from the shutdown. Four to eight police officers - some on overtime - were stationed at several intersections along Aramingo, where they gave northbound motorists directions back to I-95.
Others, though, found the going tough yesterday evening.
The managers and employees of businesses nearby, including Auto Zone, Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut and Hollywood Tans outlets, reported a drop in customers.
Most of the business at the tanning salon came from residents who walked to the shop, an employee said.
"I would not drive in this," said Arleen Polkus, a Port Richmond resident. "Walking is healthier."
Bob Hall, manager at the Pizza Hut, said business had slowed because "people are stuck in the traffic and don't want to come in. Our deliveries are more difficult, too. It's taken longer to take the food to the customers."
It had been much the same in the morning.
Bewildered drivers found themselves detoured onto often-unfamiliar streets.
For police, much of the work involved keeping cars moving and drivers' tempers under control.
"It takes people a certain amount of time to adjust their plans and their temperament," said Inspector L.B. Rebstock, commander of the traffic and park division.
"Horrible" is how Dan Kessner described the traffic as he gassed up his private security car at the Lukoil station at Tacony Street and Aramingo.
He had to drive from Levittown to his job at Penrose Plaza deep in Southwest Philadelphia. He was determined to rejoin the slow-flowing ooze on Aramingo and hoped to find his way back onto I-95.
When it was suggested that he might zigzag his way down less-congested streets, he balked.
"I don't know my way around here," he said, nervously. "I'll wind up in the 'hood somewhere."
At 3:30 p.m., northbound traffic on I-95 was backed up all the way back to the Vine Street Expressway, Blaum said. Southbound traffic was a little better, with the only problems in the area of the offramp to the Betsy Ross Bridge.
That was before the rush. It would get worse into the evening.
And it likely will be the same today.
