Three Deaths in 66-Vehicle Crash on Interstate 80

HARRISBURG, PA –While the clean-up continues on Interstate 80 in eastern Clinton County, state police on Thursday released additional information on the Wednesday crash. They said 66 vehicles were involved, 11 of them commercial vehicles, the others passenger vehicles and three lives were lost.

According to state police Corporal Brent Miller, “There was one confirmed fatality from a passenger vehicle within this stretch of crashes and at the very end of the pile-up, another fatality occurred in a passenger vehicle. There was also another fatality that occurred due to a medical emergency where an individual was sitting in the backlog and suffered that medical emergency and died at the scene as well.”

Miller and other authorities provided a Thursday update by way of Zoom. They said in addition to the shutdown of the westbound lanes, the eastbound lanes were also closed during the cleanup. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, they said.

PEMA director Randy Padfield said buses were brought in to evacuate people left on the interstate while the cleanup was carried out; they were placed in emergency shelters. Padfield said, “The goal is at any point in time if we can actually open up the roadway to be able to allow the folks to continue on. But if we get to that point we know, such as the incident in Clinton County, that a roadway is not going to open for an extended period of time, there may be multiple vehicles that are in that trapped queue that are non-drivable, we want to evacuate those folks off of that system.”

The Clinton County commissioners at their Thursday meeting said emergency responders came from 26 agencies across Clinton, Centre, Lycoming and Union counties. They said Susquehanna Transit provided the transportation for motorists trapped on the highway.

Press conference participants included PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. She said that portion of the Interstate near Loganton had been plowed by her agency shortly before the accident; also a 45-mile-per-hour speed limit was in effect, but no vehicle restrictions. She said, “Unfortunately, this kind of accidents does happen.”

The expectation is the Interstate will be reopen Thursday afternoon. Names of the deceased have not yet been released.