A portion of Interstate 79 is closed again today in Butler County.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation shut down the northbound side between the Route 528 and Zelienople exits around 11:30 a.m. due to icy conditions. Traffic is being detoured along Route 19 that roughly parallels the interstate.

Once crews scrape the ice and spread salt, the highway is expected to reopen.

Yesterday, I-79 southbound was closed until 7 a.m. because of an accident involving two tractor-trailers. Later, it was closed northbound from Cranberry to Portersville at the recommendation of state police because of icy conditions.

In eastern Pennsylvania, National Guard vehicles loaded with food, water, baby supplies and fuel delivered help to hundreds of motorists stranded on Interstate 78 last night and this morning while crews try clear up a 50-mile backup on the icy, hilly highway.

PennDOT shut down a large section of the road around 8 a.m. to try to help with the efforts, spokesman Sean Brown said.

	Associated Press/Allentown Morning Call Traffic is backed up this morning at the New Smithville exit of Interstate 78 in Lehigh County in eastern Pennsylvania. Hundreds of motorists stranded on the highway while crews tried clear up a 50-mile backup on the icy, hilly highway. Click photo for larger image.

KDKA-TV is reporting a woman from the North Hills is among those stranded.

Ann Harrold was driving home from the Westminster Dog Show in New York City with her two Yorkshire Terriers when the storm made the highway impassable.

Ms. Harrold had been stuck in her car with her dogs, Mindi Sue and Indiana Jones, for more than 19 hours. She told KDKA that traffic began to move around noon. Her car had not moved an inch since 4:15 p.m. yesterday, she said.

Officials did not know how many cars were stranded, but estimated the number was in the hundreds. Police took fuel to some motorists and food to others, including several diabetics who called 911, said state police Trooper Shawn Mell.

Rescuers were taking some stranded motorists to a shelter set up at a middle school in Hamburg, but most elected to stay with their cars, Mell said. Police also were flooded with calls from frustrated motorists wanting to know why the road hadn't reopened.

"Right now it's just a matter of waiting until it gets cleared," Mell said.

The National Guard began helping the motorists at about 9 p.m. yesterday and was still at it more than 12 hours later, said Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver, a Guard spokesman. Guard troops from Allentown, Lehigh County, using 14 Humvees, also were helping wake up truckers who slept in their rigs on the highway so the trucks could be moved and the miles-long traffic jam freed up, said Ron Taylor, a PennDOT spokesman.

As soon as one vehicle could be cleared away, another accident would occur, preventing PennDOT plows and salt trucks from treating the road, Taylor said.

Some progress was made during the night in getting vehicles moving, Taylor said, adding that officials hoped to clear the jam by this afternoon.

"We're to a point where it's breaking, we're able to get a good portion of the people moved so we can get the rest of them out of there," Taylor said.

Interstate 78 was closed from Interstate 81 in Lebanon County to Route 100 in Lehigh County, Brown said.

The Valentine's Day storm dumped 7 inches of snow on I-78 followed by a 3-inch crust of ice. Motorists were disgruntled about the condition of the road.

"It's February, it's a snowstorm," District Judge Gay Elwell, of Easton, told The Morning Call in Allentown after sitting in the jam from 1:30 p.m. to after 9 p.m. Wednesday. "They had plenty of time to get ready for it. It boggles my mind that the traffic is tied up for eight hours and I don't know why."

The I-78 motorists were hardest hit by the Valentine's Day blast that coated much of Pennsylvania with a slippery mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, shutting down thousands of schools and much of state government and leaving what would have been busy restaurant tables going vacant.