Three tractor-trailers collided on I-78 Monday night in a crash serious enough to overturn one of the rigs and shut down a stretch of westbound lanes for hours. One truck ended up on its side, facing the wrong direction in the westbound lanes, while a second damaged tractor-trailer was pulled off to the side of the road nearby. A transit van was also found at the scene.
The crash happened on I-78, according to NBC10 Philadelphia, though conflicting location details have emerged in the station's own reporting. The station's headline says Northampton County, as does the body of its report, sourced from nbcphiladelphia.com. That same report also refers at one point to I-79 rather than I-78 when describing the overturned truck's position, an inconsistency that has not been resolved as of this writing.
What is clear is the geography of the scene itself. The wreckage was spread across the westbound roadway between Exit 67, for Hellertown and Bethlehem, and Exit 60B, for PA 145 North-South 4th Street — a stretch that has seen its share of big-rig trouble this year. Those westbound lanes remained closed between the two exits well after the crash, and drivers were urged to avoid the area altogether.
No Word Yet on Injuries or Cause
As of the latest report, there has been no information released about injuries resulting from the crash, nor any indication of what caused three tractor-trailers and a van to end up tangled together on the highway. Investigators have not disclosed the identities or conditions of anyone involved, and the timeline of exactly when the lanes reopened has not been made public.
A Rough Year for I-78 Truck Traffic
Monday's crash adds to what has been a difficult stretch for tractor-trailers on I-78 this year. In May, a tractor-trailer rolled over and caught fire on the Route 33 ramp to I-78 east, a crash reported around 5:45 p.m. that shut the ramp down with a closure expected to last until 9:15 p.m., according to mcall.com.
That same month brought a deadlier incident further west. A 61-year-old man died after a crash on I-78 West in Upper Bern Township on a Friday night in May, per pennlive.com. That crash, which happened at 11:51 p.m. near mile marker 25.6 between the Hamburg and Shartlesville exits, began when a moving tractor-trailer drifted onto the shoulder and struck the trailing unit of another rig already parked there. The parked truck sustained severe disabling damage and blocked all westbound lanes, including both shoulders. The second truck then overturned and struck an embankment; its driver was taken to Reading Hospital and pronounced dead.
Northampton County itself has already logged at least one other tractor-trailer crash on I-78 this year. A separate tractor-trailer-involved crash on westbound I-78 at mile marker 74, about two miles from the New Jersey state line, was cleared and both lanes reopened, according to wfmz.com. It is not established whether that earlier crash is connected in any way to Monday night's pileup, and the two should not be assumed to be the same incident.
For now, the overnight collision remains under investigation, with officials yet to say what sparked the chain-reaction crash or whether anyone was hurt. Drivers heading west on I-78 should continue to expect delays and plan alternate routes until authorities provide an update.
