Over the years, actually make that decades, the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway has become something of an avocation for me. Here at the Chamber, it’s my work. But at cocktail parties, while working out at the gym, even duffing on the golf course…wherever; it seems that I get pulled into discussions about our long-awaited and desperately needed stretch of highway which we lovingly call The Thruway.
One recent conversation that emanated from a presentation which was made to the 2022 Class of Leadership Susquehanna Valley and then repeated at the next GSVCC Transportation Committee related to high wind warnings on the Thruway’s Susquehanna River Bridge. Much was made about these warnings and safety concerns were expressed.
Please let me first respond by assuring you that the bridge will be safe. Any suggestion, otherwise, is uninformed and not data driven. Nearly all crashes are caused by driver carelessness and very, very few can be attributed to the design of the roadway or the structure.
PennDOT uses modern communications tools such as variable message boards, radio messages, websites to communicate real-time roadway conditions. The pa511.com application is accessible via world wide web or any smartphone. I love this app and use it all the time to avoid congestion and/or unsafe travel conditions.
A good example of an experienced, safe driver is the trucker in the photo below. This photo was taken on southbound I-81, just before the George Wade Bridge about a mile from the Susquehanna River. You can see that this professional driver is reading the variable message, signaling a move to the center lane, and preparing, just in case, a wind gust shoves the load one direction or the other. Chances are this trucker crossed the huge bridge just ahead without a problem at all.
Well, thanks for reading my minor rant. Thank you for being a safe driver. Looking forward to driving across that big, beautiful, safe Thruway bridge along with you and thousands of other drivers before too long.
