PHILADELPHIA — Traffic slowed to a crawl around mid-span of the Walt Whitman Bridge, like it does about two hours before kickoff of an Eagles playoff game. But this was 7:45 on a Monday morning.
The jam persisted through the tolls and past the I-95 interchange. Trucks are banned from I-95, the corridor from everywhere to everywhere, for the entire week. All traffic around the Philadelphia sports complex is also banned or tightly controlled. So tractor-trailers and the NFL media were all shunted onto little Penrose Avenue.
After a half-hour of car-length-at-a-time progress, I finally turned onto Pattison Avenue a half mile west of Eagles headquarters.