Truck Crash, Rock Slide Snarl Traffic on Routes 279, 65

Traffic should begin flowing more freely on Interstate 279 this morning now that workers have cleared the remains of a damaged tractor-trailer truck that crashed and spilled part of its load earlier today in Ohio Township.

Not far from the crash scene, however, the northbound lanes of Route 65 remain shut down due to a landslide overnight in a slide-prone section in Glenfield. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said they hoped to have the northbound lanes open by rush hour tonight, but said they weren't sure how long it may be closed.

The result of the early-morning incidents? A heavier-than-usual morning rush hour and a lot of exasperated -- and late -- motorists in the North Hills and Sewickley Valley.

The truck crash occurred at 3:40 a.m. in the southbound lanes of I-279, around a mile north of the exit for Camp Horne Road, state police said. The tractor-trailer truck crashed after its driver, identified as Dennis J. Keitzer, 63, of Vandergrift, failed to negotiate a curve, troopers said.

The truck rolled onto its passenger side and slid 25 feet before stopping in the right southbound lane and spilling part of its load onto the highway. Keitzer was slightly injured, and the southbound lanes were closed for crews to clean up the mess until around 9:15 a.m., troopers said.

Route 65, however, remains slow near the Glenfield viaduct and the I-79 interchange as a result of yet another landslide between 3 and 4 this morning.

PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi said rocks tumbled from the hillside above the road onto the pavement in the northbound lanes because the dirt under it is sodden and loose from recent heavy rains. The rocks fell near the that was closed after another slide on April 5, Struzzi said.

Around 14,000 vehicles pass through that area daily, according to PennDOT, and a good number of them do so during the morning and evening rush. Struzzi said. Traffic is being detoured over I-79 to Route 51 to the Sewickley Bridge, and motorists should expect delays.

PennDOT crews have brought in a loader to move and haul away the debris and will erect jersey barriers to create a "drop zone'' to keep motorists away from other potential rock falls.

That work may be completed in time to open the road to northbound traffic by tonight, Struzzi said. Before that happens, however, geotechnical engineers must examine the soil above the road to make sure more -- and potentially danger larger -- rocks are not likely to fall, he said.

"If the engineers -- our soil doctors -- are satisfied the hillside is relatively stable, we will have it open by rush hour tonight," he said. "If more [rocks] need to come down and be knocked down, we will have to bring in a crane and the work could take several days."