Tractor-trailer accident on I-80 kills driver

MERCER, Pa. -- A fatal tractor-trailer accident in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in Mercer County closed the road for 51/2 hours.
Pennsylvania State Police said Paul J. Moore, 42, of Alliance, Ohio, failed to slow his tractor-trailer for traffic stopped ahead of him that was waiting to merge into a single lane through a construction area, and the vehicle slammed into the rear of two other tractor-trailers at milepost 14 around noon Wednesday.
One of the rigs was then pushed into the rear of a fourth tractor-trailer.
Police said they don't know why Moore failed to slow with traffic.
Moore was pronounced dead at the scene by Scott Black, Mercer County deputy coroner, who ruled the death accidental. Moore died of blunt-force trauma to the head and chest, Black said.
No one else was injured, police said.
The crash blocked the eastbound lanes, and eastbound traffic was rerouted off I-80 at the West Middlesex interchange.
Traffic clogged Pa. Route 18 and U.S. Route 62 eastbound, as motorists had to drive 15 miles to Mercer before they could get back to the eastbound lanes of I-80.
The route took them past an area of Route 62 (East State Street) where traffic flow was already restricted because of a fire at Olympic Fun Center at 4070 E. State St.