I-95 and airport ramps clear of waiting motorists' cars

A day after the Pennsylvania Highway Patrol started cracking down on motorists who wait along I-95 and nearby ramps to pick up arrivals at Philadelphia International Airport, a police official yesterday reported that no illegally parked vehicles had been spotted along the roadways.

"There was nobody on any of the I-95 ramps, north- or southbound, which is remarkable," said State Police Capt. David Young. "The word is getting out. That's what we want."

Under the new enforcement policy, troopers issued 16 tickets of up to $147 on Monday; about 25 motorists received warnings.

Also that day, PennDot crews began installing 33 red-and-white signs cautioning potential parkers to move along to what is being used as a cell-phone lot: "No stopping or standing. Use Bartram Ave. Park & Ride to wait for arriving flights."

Sitting in that lot yesterday, several motorists said they could have used some assistance in the form of signs guiding them there.

"If you're coming from Philadelphia and you haven't been here before, you're not going to find it," said James Lyles of Philadelphia, awaiting the arrival of his daughter from London.

Jacqueline Anderson, an insurance consultant from Harleysville, Montgomery County, was waiting for a friend flying in from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She said she had been using the cell-phone lot for years.

"I don't mind at all," Anderson said. "I watched on the news last night and noticed that they started ticketing people. I thought they were going to do that earlier. That's why I got into the habit of parking here."

Anderson recalled that her first attempt to find the lot was difficult "because they don't have enough signs." But once there, she said, she found it to be safer than parking along the highway. And it "beats driving around in circles waiting for someone to call," she said.

Dawn VanDyke, a retirement adviser from Chicago, was reading a book as she waited for a colleague to arrive from Texas. In the Philadelphia area on business, she had landed about an hour earlier and driven to the cell-phone lot.

"I think this is very helpful, because it gives you a place to sit and wait," she said, "instead of circling the airport over and over."

VanDyke, who uses a similar lot at Chicago's Midway Airport, said there was only one drawback to Philadelphia's lot.

"Better signs would be helpful," she said. "The car-rental guy told me how to get here. Otherwise, I would not have found it."

From I-95 southbound: Take Exit 12B. Turn left onto Bartram Avenue, make a legal U-turn at the next light, and turn right into the lot.

From I-95 northbound: Take Exit 10. Turn left onto Bartram Avenue at the first light. The lot is about a half-mile ahead on the right.

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