There are many ways in which municipalities throughout the state of Pennsylvania seek to keep drivers on its roads safe and out of harm's way from car accidents. In addition creating traffic laws and employing police officers to enforce those laws, there are times when more drastic measures could be taken. Recently, one of those measures that will affect some drivers on Route 51 and roads on the Southside was announced.

Beginning this May, a tunnel that many drivers use to get from one are to the other will be closed during certain times of the day. The closure is the result of traffic problems and crashes that occurred in the tunnel of the course of a four year period. The tunnel, which is only ever open for traffic travelling in one direction, will not be open to traffic during overnights.

While this course of action may seem extreme, it is not without reason. During that period of time police made many arrests for drunk driving. While 63 individuals were arrested under suspicion of that crime, there almost certainly have been more who were not caught.

In addition, a total of 11 motor vehicle accidents have occurred in the tunnel during that same period of time. Only one of those crashes happened before 11 p.m. Five of them were serious.

The reason behind the closure of the tunnel is of course to try to reduce the number of crashes that occur in the tunnel. Whether it will have the desired effect remains to be seen.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Pittsburgh crashes prompt plans for overnight closures of Wabash Tunnel," Jon Schmitz, April 18, 2013