This story was updated 12:25 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21.

Eleven people, including eight children, were taken to the hospital after a wrong-way crash on Route 28 late Monday in Shaler.

Shaler police said in a news release Tuesday morning that the wreck occurred at about 11:40 p.m. between the Millvale and Etna exits.

Police said a Honda Odyssey minivan got on Route 28 — apparently via the southbound Millvale off-ramp — and began traveling northbound in the southbound lanes. 

The driver of the Odyssey then struck another vehicle, a Ford Taurus sedan carrying one adult. 

Two adults and eight children were in the Odyssey, Shaler police Chief Sean Frank said, including four kids who were unrestrained during the crash. 

Chief Frank said the driver of the Odyssey did not have a driver’s license.

The ages of the children injured ranged from 1 to 11. 

Police said all 11 of the injured were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. 

Charges are pending against the Odyssey driver, police said. Officers said they found no evidence that either driver was impaired.

Route 28 was closed for two hours before reopening, police said. 

The crash Monday adds to a list of wrong-way wrecks on Route 28 in recent years. 

In February 2021, an SUV entered Route 28 from Anderson Street on the North Side and collided with another car near the East Ohio Street exit, killing one person in each vehicle. 

In February 2016, an 81-year-old man died after he turned off the 40th Street Bridge into oncoming traffic. 

Last year, the Post-Gazette reported that wrong-way crashes were increasing nationally, with an average of 500 per year between 2015-18 — up from 360 per year in 2004-09. 

To address the Route 28 accidents, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation installed barriers between the north and southbound lanes in 2013, though the highway has had at least one fatal wrong-way crash per year in the last six years.  

First Published: June 21, 2022, 11:01 a.m.
Updated: June 21, 2022, 4:26 p.m.