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Despite creating gridlock for tens of thousands of motorists Thursday evening, Pennsylvania State Police said they did the right thing in closing highway tunnels after receiving a vague bomb threat.
"I'm sure some people were irritated at us, but they got home in one piece," said Trooper Robin Mungo. "Our goal is to make sure everyone goes home. If you go home late, at least you go home."

The bomb threat -- combined with a line of heavy storms -- created havoc at the height of the evening rush hour, causing lengthy delays as motorists tried to find alternate routes around four of the city's major arteries. About 138,000 commuters make their way into Pittsburgh daily.

A man with a foreign accent called the Allegheny County 911 call center at 4:38 p.m. from a pay phone in the 1200 block of East Carson Street on the South Side, Mungo said. He made a vague threat with a specific time, saying there would be a bomb explosion at 6 p.m. in a "tunnel on the parkway," Mungo said.


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PennDOT workers immediately shut down the Squirrel Hill Tunnel for a few minutes and did a quick walk through, finding nothing. Fifteen state police troopers were sent to the Fort Pitt and Squirrel Hill tunnels, which were closed about 5:45 p.m. for more sweeps.
"We got a call from the state police shortly after five, and they said they wanted to shut the tunnels down," said PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi. "Any time there's a problem, we defer to (the state police)."

Separately, a PennDOT worker at the Liberty Tunnel apparently called the 911 call center at 5:55 p.m. to report having heard about a suspicious package there. That tunnel was shut down, too.

Earlier, at 4:25 p.m., Pittsburgh police responded to a report of suspicious packages at a bus shelter near Stanwix Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Downtown. Officers did not find anything.

The Squirrel Hill Tunnel was reopened at 6:20 p.m. The Fort Pitt Tunnel reopened about 10 minutes later. Police opened the Liberty Tunnel by 6:45 p.m.

Nothing was found at any of the tunnels, but state police had no option other than to take the threats seriously, Mungo said. She said it was the first specific bomb threat related to the tunnels in the five years she has been on the job.

State police would take the same action again, she said.

"In this day and age, we take every threat seriously," Mungo said. "If it's about saving lives, it will become standard."

Adding to the confusion for drivers, the tunnel shutdowns occurred as a series of heavy storms moved across the Pittsburgh region, according to the National Weather Service.

The rains started before 5:30 p.m. and lasted about two hours, dropping two inches of rain on the North Side and pea-sized hail in the South Hills, said Lou Giordano, a meteorologist in the service's Moon office.

Shortly before 6 p.m., police closed Route 28 between the 31st and 40th Street bridges around the Millvale Industrial Park because of heavy flooding, likely caused by water backing up from drains, an Allegheny County dispatcher said. By late evening, one lane in each direction had reopened.

"There was too much water and debris, clogged them all up," said Tom McDonough, operations manager in the 911 call center.

Around 6:40 p.m., flooding in the 2800 block of Spring Garden Avenue in Pittsburgh's Spring Garden neighborhood stranded a man and a woman in a car when water rose as high as the vehicle's hood.

City fire Lt. Kenny Mitchell and firefighters Steve Cummins, Steve Swierczek and Terry McCarthy waded into the waist-deep waters and brought the couple to safety.

During the height of the storm, several electrical transformers were reported sparking and smoking, including one in Mt. Lebanon that forced a detour on a portion of Bower Hill Road.

At least 3,000 Duquesne Light Co. customers -- mainly in the North Side, Bellevue, Stanton Heights, Mt. Lebanon and McKeesport -- were still without service late last night, Duquesne Light spokesman Joseph Vallarian said.

Traffic backups became so thick during the evening commute that drivers said it was taking 45 minutes to an hour to travel from Oakland to the West End Bridge. Many drivers were talking on cell phones, and tempers seemed short with drivers honking their horns when intersections became jammed.

Between 110,000 and 120,000 vehicles pass through the Fort Pitt Tunnel daily; 105,000 to 115,000 through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel; and 40,000 to 60,000 through the Liberty Tunnel.

Pittsburgh has a history of commuter gridlock in crisis.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, thousands of workers were stuck in traffic tieups Downtown while trying to get home.

Pittsburgh City Council voted in January to spend $589,300 in federal Department of Homeland Security grants on a yearlong analysis of how to quickly evacuate people from Downtown.