Traffic delays expected in State College as Penn State students leave for spring break
Congested traffic is expected in Happy Valley on Friday as Penn State students leave for spring break.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is advising drivers in the State College area to “expect significant traffic congestion” near the Interstate 80 eastbound on-ramp at the Bellefonte interchange on Friday afternoon.
“PennDOT expects high volumes of traffic leaving campus via Interstate 99 northbound, which is likely to cause congestion at the interchange. That congestion could lead to backups for those attempting to merge onto I-80 eastbound,” a press release from PennDOT states.
PennDOT is encouraging people to choose alternate routes or alter travel plans to avoid congestion and rush hour traffic.
Message signs in the area will alert drivers to the potential traffic congestion and delays, the release states, and the Pennsylvania State Police will be present at the interchange “to monitor the situation.”
Will the weather have an impact on travel?
The National Weather Service at State College issued a winter weather advisory from 1 p.m. Friday through midnight. Greg DeVoir, a lead meteorologist at NWS State College, said Thursday there will be some mixed precipitation that develops in the afternoon.
The NWS forecast says it will snow before 3 p.m., then the snow will possibly mix with sleet between 3-5 p.m. After that, snow possibly mixed with rain and sleet is predicted. As for Friday night, the forecast shows rain and maybe some sleet mixed in, but it will all be rain after 10 p.m.
“At this time, it doesn’t look like it will be that impactful for the area,” DeVoir said Thursday. He said they don’t expect anything to start until mid- to late morning. By then, the roads will have had time to warm up and the air temperature will be above freezing when the precipitation arrives.
AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda said the storm will bring a “mixed bag,” much like the last couple storms have brought to the area.
“It’s still a question exactly what type of precipitation we’re going to see here. We’ll probably see a mix of a few different precipitation types throughout the course of the storm. It looks like as things move in, it may start as a mix of some rain and sleet, and then as we get later into the afternoon, ... things could become more predominantly sleet, maybe mixing with a little snow and freezing rain into the evening hours,” Sojda said Thursday.
“And then we probably go back the other direction as we get later in the night. Things become milder and it changes back over to plain rain. So we’re really going to be ... bouncing around precipitation types through much of the storm.”
DeVoir encouraged anyone driving to be cautious, as visibility can be reduced on the highways even if it’s just raining, and to leave a safe distance between their car and the one in front of them.
“I know everybody’s excited to get on the road and get where they want to go, but the weather doesn’t really care where you’re going. Just take it easy and get where you’re going safely,” DeVoir said.
“Secondary roads” could be slushy for a time, especially in the late afternoon and early evening, Sojda said. But for the most part, he said it looks like things will “just be wet.”
Anybody traveling over the ridges in the area could see frozen precipitation or a white glaze of ice on elevated surfaces. For those traveling home to northeast PA, New York or New England, Sojda said those areas could get more snow, sleet and ice. Those heading south or west could run into rain.
Those traveling can check road conditions online at www.511PA.com or through the 511PA app. It provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 3:23 PM.
