Road Closure Causes Near Gridlock Along 412 Corridor
The closure of Route 412 this afternoon was due to a fire at the Chevy 21 auto dealership. Traffic was backed up in both directions as motorists scrambled to find alternate routes to and from Interstate 78.
The closure of a busy state road on one of the hottest afternoons of the year so far caused traffic chaos and near gridlock in parts of both Hellertown and Bethlehem this afternoon. Authorities were forced to close part of Route 412 and detour traffic because of a car fire at the Chevy 21 auto dealership, which is located at 1100 Hellertown Road (Route 412), just north of the westbound on and off ramps to Interstate 78. According to report published on the Morning Call website, the fire destroyed a dozen vehicles. At 2:35pm, an email from Sean Brown at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Engineering District 5-0 stated that Route 412 had been reopened. However, at approximately 3pm, southbound traffic from Bethlehem was still …
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Josh Popichak
11:02 am on Friday, July 22, 2011
I know what you mean, Lisa. What the pictures don't convey, though, is how slowly the traffic moved yesterday. At some points we were just inching forward. I've added a few photos that show what the traffic situation looked like on Route 412 south, on the other side of the interstate (and the fire). The traffic backup there was pretty bad, too. more ›