PennDOT Teams Up With Pa. Turnpike To Help Commuters Find Routes During Papal Visit

By Jim Melwert

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you're planning to drive in to see the Pope next weekend, officials say you need to plan not only what route you're going to take, but where you're going to park.

PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike have teamed up to create a website, called Papal511.com.

The weekend of the Pope's visit, I-76 east will close Friday night from I-476 the Blue Route to I-95, 76 westbound will close from 95-to the split for route one the Roosevelt Expressway. 676, the Vine Expressway will be closed in both directions. But PennDOT spokesman Gene Blaum says I-95 will stay open through the weekend.

"There will be exit ramps closed on I-95 from Broad Street up through the Callowhill Street interchange, but mainline I-95 will be open to traffic."

The highways, Blaum says, are closed for emergency vehicles and for the large number of tour buses to get through, but those buses will not be parking on the highways.

Blaum says 76 will close at 476 because they need to detour an interstate onto another interstate highway so traffic has somewhere to go.

He says the plan is to have the major highways re-opened by Monday morning, but how early they open depends on a number of factors, such as how quickly they can move any barriers.