Possible sinkhole on I-76 causes traffic headache near King of Prussia

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A hole in the road on I-76 westbound is causing quite the headache for commuters in the King on Prussia area.

PennDOT says it found out Sunday afternoon that part of the road had caved in and it will have the left lane blocked for about two miles for repairs until at least April 19.

"It's always backed up. There's always a traffic jam, so I more take the back roads," said Bob Shaffer from Exton.

"No, I don't go on I-76, too much traffic," said Brent Hawthorne from Glenside.

The problem is what PennDOT calls a "distributor road," where drivers exit the main highway and then can choose to take an exit for either Rt. 202 or Rt. 422 near mile marker 328.

The left lane closure starts a few miles before that, near South Henderson Road in King of Prussia.

"This is usually the time we see these sort of things because we've left winter, we've had a rainy winter, moisture is getting into the soil," said Brad Rudolph, a PennDOT spokesman.

A geo-technician will decide if it's a sinkhole or something else Wednesday. Because of that, one lane will be blocked for at least the rest of this week, maybe longer.

"I came the other way. I didn't want to go back on I-76 because of the traffic," said Shonique James from West Chester.

PennDOT says this isn't the first sinkhole near Rt. 202.

"We've seen them all this year. We've had them on Rt. 422, on I-476. We had them on Rt. 202 in years past," said Rudolph.

Apart from this particular lane blockage, drivers say traffic is the worst it's been since the pandemic started.

"I'd say (traffic) is double, at least. You don't know when, you don't know how, you don't know what time of the day. You can't time anything because you have no idea what's going on," said Howard Gibbs from Manayunk.

PennDOT plans to keep one lane open through the construction.