". . . but I have MILES TO GO before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep." Robert Frost

PA. now has a new idea for keeping highway workers safe and reducing traffic delays and it seems to work pretty well.(unless you are one of the poor slobs stuck in the intitial 3 hour slowdown). Step one : block all traffic for 15 minutes 15 miles prior to the place where work has to be done (recently this has usually been cleanup after an accident, towing a car or truck back up an embankment);
RESULT : At the work zone, in 15 minutes, the final car will pass by and then there will be no more traffic.

Step 2 : create a rolling roadblock with one or two highway trucks or police cars moving 5 mph (alternative would be to stop traffic for 30 minutes and conduct a 10mph rolling roadblock but obviously that will create a much larger backup)
RESULT : workers now have 3 hours of a traffic free zone to operate in

PROBLEM : 3 hour delay for those in the initial back up - PA. announces these things on road signs the day before and on traffic radio with notices posted along the highway telling travelers to tune in.
BUT : in tonite's case, they had completed their work and traffic I was with encountered about a 10 mile back up that was rolling at about 25 mph for a 1/2 hour delay.
OVERALL : Not a bad idea but again, to be stuck unawares would be extremely frustrating (and at least 3/4 of the traffic is interstate traffic meaning they have no clue what is going on because they didn't travel that route and see the warning the prior day).

Will drop this load up in Palmyra (NE of Harrisburg)in the morning then dispatch wants me to drop down to Owings Mill, Md (NW Baltimore) to get trailer loaded and bring it back to the New Kingstown terminal before taking off on vacation. Gonna go clean out the truck tonite of everything but my bedding and the cb so I'll be ready to roll when I return to my van tomorrow afternoon.bb.