(HARRISBURG) - Caving to pressure from reporters' questions, Governor Ed Rendell admitted today that the traffic logjam on an icy, snowy Interstate 78 last week was the result of attempts to re-claim the number-one ranking on a list of the nation's worst highways.
Rendell said he felt intense pressure after Pennsylvania was edged out by hurricane-ravaged Louisiana in last year's list published by Overdrive Magazine, a trucking industry trade journal.
"I'll be damned if I was going to let them beat us again," said the governor. "So, I told PennDOT and the State Police to let a situation develop that could give our peers in that hurricane-stricken state a run for their money. And holy shit, did they deliver."
Overdrive's executive editor, Max Heine, said the extra effort probably wasn't necessary.
"Pennsylvania's roads really, really suck," Heine said. "I think the state would have re-claimed the top spot without this stunt."
Rendell said he felt intense pressure after Pennsylvania was edged out by hurricane-ravaged Louisiana in last year's list published by Overdrive Magazine, a trucking industry trade journal.
"I'll be damned if I was going to let them beat us again," said the governor. "So, I told PennDOT and the State Police to let a situation develop that could give our peers in that hurricane-stricken state a run for their money. And holy shit, did they deliver."
Overdrive's executive editor, Max Heine, said the extra effort probably wasn't necessary.
"Pennsylvania's roads really, really suck," Heine said. "I think the state would have re-claimed the top spot without this stunt."
