PennDOT

Investigators say Tracy Touzalin, 55, of Dingmans Ferry, embezzled from PennDOT by overcharging a department credit card between 2023 and 2025.

Drivers on Interstate 81 in Luzerne County can expect delays starting Monday, Aug. 10 as crews begin demolishing a bridge carrying Interstate 80 eastbound over the highway.

“The investment insures a smooth, uninterrupted travel linking this region to our neighboring states and literally to the entire network of the United States," PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll says of new designation.

The bridge, about 50 years old, carries 4,500 vehicles a day and 'is past its useful life,' PennDOT spokeswoman Elizabeth Fabri said.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials are "strongly advising" Northeast Pennsylvania commuters to avoid Interstate 81 this week due to multiple construction projects in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

PennDOT District 4 has significant work planned on Interstate 81 north and south this week at numerous locations in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Officials with a Monroe County-based animal rehab center are looking to re-house hundreds of pigeons rescued from a Wilkes-Barre home this week.

The 67 new construction projects planned in Northeast Pennsylvania this year come on top of 81 projects will continue in 2026 in Dunmore-based PennDOT Region 4.

The unique sounds of bagpipes are hard to miss this time of year with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations happening around the region. But the Greater Scranton Black Diamonds pipe band had to cancel appearances last year after their bus crashed traveling home from a parade in the Poconos. This year, they’re back on the streets.

PennDOT plans a $126 million upgrade of the road surfaces, ramps and bridges around where interstates 84/380 and 81 meet over the next five years.