A wrong-way crash Sunday morning killed a motorcycle and closed the northbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension in Lehigh County for many hours.
The accident occurred just after 9 a.m. on Interstate 476 near mile marker 67.1 in Washington Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Nathan Branosky, a spokesman for the Troop M barracks.
A 24-year-old woman from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, collided with two motorcyclists while driving south in the northbound lanes, according to Branosky. The two were traveling in a small company of six motorcycles.
One of the bikers, a 50-year-old man from Bristol, Bucks County, was pronounced dead on the scene at 10:10 a.m., according to Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio.
The coroner withheld the man’s identity until the autopsy was done.
Branosky said the other biker hurt in the incident was a 24-year-old male from Bristol. He was sent to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township for treatment.
His status was not immediately known Sunday afternoon.
The woman driving the automobile was unharmed, according to officials.
The highway’s northbound lanes were closed between Lehigh Valley Exit 56 and Mahoning Valley Exit 74, according to a post on X from PA Turnpike Alerts.
A diversion sent traffic to Route 22 east, then Route 145 north. According to the notice, motorists will then be redirected onto Route 248 west and Route 209 north before re-entering the interstate at the Mahoning Valley interchange.
Branosky stated the incident was cleaned by 1:20 p.m., and all lane restrictions had been lifted.
The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office are all still investigating the wreck.
Police are looking for witnesses. Anyone with information was requested to call the Pennsylvania State Police Troop T Pocono Station at 570-443-9511 and mention incident number PA2025-379419.
