HARRISBURG -- While ice-encrusted sections of three central Pennsylvania highways remained closed yesterday, an angry Gov. Ed Rendell ordered an "immediate and complete'' investigation to find out "who screwed up," resulting in hundreds of motorists being stranded in their cars for hours.

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At a hastily called news conference in Philadelphia, Mr. Rendell said "significant mistakes in judgment were made'' during Wednesday's severe ice and snow storm that jammed vehicles on Interstate 78, some for more than 24 hours, in the bitter cold. "There was a total breakdown in communication between state agencies,'' he said.

The frozen parade of cars, SUVs, buses and trucks wasn't finally cleared off the road until yesterday morning, but I-78 remained closed for the rest of the day while Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews put chemicals down and broke up several inches of ice from 50 miles of the road west of Allentown.

"This is not a good day for state government. I am to blame for this,'' the governor said. "We have to find out exactly what went wrong and fix it. I accept full responsibility for our unacceptable response. I personally apologize to every motorist who was stranded in this dangerous situation."

The governor was upset about poor communications between PennDOT, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, state police and other agencies. He said he wants to find out why agencies weren't talking to one another as the storm worsened Wednesday and why no one contacted him about the dangerous backup on I-78 until 7:55 p.m., more than 12 hours after the storm struck.

"If someone screwed up, and I believe they did, the investigation will show who screwed up,'' he said. "Some people called it a perfect storm, combining snow, rain, sleet, frozen rain and cold temperatures, but that is no excuse. We are not here to make excuses. I don't accept the excuse that this was a perfect storm.''

PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler said his crews had "made excellent progress'' in removing ice from the highways yesterday, but "despite this progress, access will still be denied as we allow crews more time to clear the roads of dangerous ice patches.''

PennDOT said it will make an announcement as soon as the roads can be reopened for safe travel, which officials last night said would happen sometime today.

Mr. Rendell, a big sports fan, didn't find out about the miles of traffic jams on I-78, I-81 and I-80 until he was called at home in Philadelphia by a state trooper. It was just before 8 p.m. and Mr. Rendell was watching a Penn State basketball game on TV.

He said he immediately called the National Guard commander, Gen. Jessica Wright, who got more than 100 guardsmen to the scene on I-78, handing out blankets, bottled water and military-style "meals ready to eat.'' By late yesterday, more than 500 guardsmen were helping stranded motorists, he said.

Former Revenue Secretary Greg Fajt, now a senior adviser to Mr. Rendell, will work with Director of Administration Joseph Martz on the investigation, aided by a former top official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, James Witt.

Much of the public's criticism for not clearing the roads properly was aimed at PennDOT.

Asked for a response, spokesman Steve Chizmar said the agency "is continuing its efforts to reopen the interstates that are closed. We are treating the ice with liquid magnesium chloride and specialized equipment like front-end loaders and graders to chip off the ice. Their blades get underneath the ice and pull it up.''

As far as Mr. Rendell's call for an investigation, "We will cooperate fully,'' he said.

The governor ticked off a list of questions he wants answered:

Why weren't all entrance ramps to I-78 and other highways closed by somebody -- PennDOT or the state police -- as the storm worsened early Wednesday afternoon, to prevent additional motorists from getting onto the highways and making the backups worse?

Why didn't PennDOT start to remove the snow and ice from I-78 sooner on Wednesday? Mr. Rendell said a tractor-trailer accident early in the afternoon caused PennDOT crews to take time to remove the wreckage, which delayed their response on clearing the road before heavy snow and ice hit later in the day. But the effort to clear that initial accident is no excuse for the dangerous condition that I-78 was allowed to degenerate into, he said.

Why wasn't he notified much sooner on Wednesday about stranded motorists and cars on I-78 so he could order out the National Guard to provide food, water, blankets and gasoline to motorists?

Mr. Rendell said the state has talented emergency workers, who did a good job during storm Ivan in September 2004 and the Wilkes-Barre floods last June, but he said something went terribly wrong this time.

Meanwhile, state legislators from Lehigh and other counties near the closed interstates were furious about the state's mishandling of the emergency and demanded answers yesterday from PennDOT Secretary Biehler and state police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller. The Senate Transportation Committee said it will hold a special hearing Thursday to hear from them and PEMA director James Joseph.

"We need to look seriously at whether enough emergency personnel, PennDOT trucks and state troopers were available to perform the emergency road service, patrols and snow removal necessary for these sections of highway to remain open,'' several House members said in a letter to Mr. Biehler and Mr. Miller.

Some lawmakers want to conduct hearings of their own to investigate the emergency response problems, but Mr. Rendell is hoping the Legislature holds off until his office has a chance to investigate.

Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow yesterday called for Senate hearings on what he called "a thoroughly inadequate response by state agencies."

"I'm stunned and horrified that something like this could happen here," he said. "Nothing like this should ever be allowed to happen again. We need to examine very carefully what went wrong in the state's response, and resolve to prevent a repeat of those errors."

Free pass on Pennsylvania Turnpike continues through this afternoon. Story, Page A-3