Monday, January 25, 2016

Travel Conditions Slowly Heading Toward Normal After Winter Storm Jonas

weather.com
Published: January 25,2016




 
Airports up and down the East Coast are open again with limited service after tens of thousands of flights were cancelled over the weekend. Ground transportation is slowly crawling back into operation as the crippling effects of Winter Storm Jonas that brought East Coast cities to a standstill drift into the next work week.
(MORE: Latest Impacts from Jonas)
Travel bans in New York and Baltimore have been lifted, and the stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike where more than 500 vehicles were trapped at the height of Jonas has been fully reopened in both directions.
Here are the latest impacts to travel around the region. 

Airports Slowly Returning to Normal Operations

All the major airports in areas affected by Winter Storm Jonas were delay free by Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware, but more than 1,500 flights remained canceled, the largest portion of which were out of Newark Liberty International Airport. 
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was on a rescheduled pre-dawn flight from Springfield, Illinois, to Chicago while on the way to Washington on Monday morning. The Illinois Democrat said he's not even sure he'll be able to get to D.C. today, but he's been through this before.
"Most of us who spend part of our lives in Washington know to expect the worst when it comes to snow," he said. "I knew the forecast was enough to cause a problem."
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport both tweeted Monday morning they would be running limited schedules, as did BWI. All NYC area airports were running Monday, but cautioned on Twitter that all carriers might not be operating.
Good morning @CopaAirlines! We warmly welcome our first arrival since !

Since Friday, the number of cancelled flights has topped 11,000. Cancellations centered on Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Washington and New York, with airlines essentially shutting down all flights into those cities.
The bulk of Saturday's 4,511 cancelations were at airports in the New York City and Washington, D.C., metro areas, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Another 3,425 flights were canceled for Sunday, and the count keeps rising.
As the storm intensified, United Airlines announced it would not operate out of airports in the Washington area on Sunday. Service should gradually resume Monday, the airline said. "Very limited" service would restart Sunday afternoon at airports in the New York City area.
All major airlines issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook onto earlier or later flights to avoid the storms. The airports included vary by airline, but they include cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. 

Travel Bans Lifted in New York, Baltimore

The travel ban that barred nonemergency vehicles from the roads of New York City was lifted at 7 a.m. Sunday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Subways, buses and Metro-North Railroad service have been restored, but only partial service had been restored on the Long Island Rail Road as of Monday morning. 
There are more than 2,000 snow removal units still working in various areas of the city, especially Queens, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio said in press conference late Monday morning. Anyone who wants to help with snow removal efforts can go to any sanitation garage and get a work assignment paying $13.50 an hour and $20.25 an hour after 40 hours.
The city has also canceled alternate side parking through Saturday and is asking residents to let the snow melt naturally off vehicles rather than brushing it off into the street where city crews will have to deal with it. 
Diesel train service was restored in diesel territory on the Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson branches between Greenport and Ronkonkoma and west of Speonk on the Montauk branch.
Service remains suspect on the Port Washington, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Long Beach and West Hempstead branches and east of Speonk on the Montauk branch.
There is no service between Jamaica Station and Atlantic Terminal. Those tickets will be cross-honored by NYC Transit on the 2 and 3 trains between Brooklyn and Penn Station.
In Baltimore, the travel ban was lifted Sunday, but Monday morning the Baltimore City Department of Transportaion was still urging residents to stay off city streets if possible. 
The Phase II plan remained in effect as of 8 a.m. Monday, meaning all vehicles venturing out on city roads must have all-weather tires. In addition, officials said parking will still be restricted along snow emergency routes."
The city is continuing to offer free parking for residents in city garages on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pennsylvania Fully Reopened

Authorities say the section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike where hundreds of vehicles were stranded has fully reopened in both directions.
At the height of Winter Storm Jonas, more than 500 cars, trucks and buses — including two university sports teams and a church group — became stranded in a miles-long backup Friday night. The gridlock started when two tractor-trailers collided Friday night while traveling side by side in a snowy construction zone.
Turnpike officials are vowing an extensive review of the situation and response. Mark P. Compton,  chief executive of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “there are a lot of things I can own” in terms of the strategy that was employed to clear and reopen the highway.
“I can promise you all that there will be a thorough analysis of the events that led up to this incident as well as a review of what occurred over the course of the last two and a half days," he said. "I want to be certain that we do a better job the next time something like this occurs, and that we can learn from this tragedy.”
Philadelphia International Airport tweeted Monday morning that flights are operating but passangers should check their flight status before coming to the airport. As of 9 a.m. Monday morning only 50 flights had been cancelled, accodring to FlightAware. 

New Jersey Public Transportation Reopens

New Jersey Transit has resumed regular weekday rail service Monday, with the exception of the Gladstone Branch along the Morris and Essex Lines due to weather-related issues. The NJ Transit Authority said Monday morning that bus service will vary based on road conditions and local snow removal efforts.   
Major highways are clear, but snow remains a problem on local roads, the Associated Press reports. Motorists are advised to drive cautiously because of slick spots, especially on highway ramps.
New Jersey state troopers responded to 301 crashes and aided 1,635 motorists during the storm.

Amtrak Running Modified Schedule

Amtrak will continue operating a modified schedule in mid-Atlantic region, following a winter storm.
 Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other services between Boston and Washington D.C., and Keystone Service between Harrisburg, Pa., and New York, will operate on a modified schedule on Monday, Jan. 25. There will be reduced Amtrak service between Washington and points in Virginia due to local conditions.
Passengers who have reservations on affected services are being contacted and accommodated on other trains with similar departure times or offered alternate travel dates.

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