State police are trying to determine how an out-of-state motorist wound up heading in the wrong direction along I-279 early Friday, causing a head-on collision that killed a Green Tree man.
Yandon Wang, 55, of Crownsville, Md., was en route to the Three Rivers Art Festival shortly before 5 a.m. when he missed his exit and ended up going the wrong direction on the highway, state police said.
Wang's 2007 Chevrolet Uplander was traveling south in the northbound lanes when it collided with a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, killing Kenneth A. Blobner, 55, who was driving to work.
"We know that Mr. Wang missed his exit twice, but we are still trying to learn how he ended up back on the highway going the wrong way," said Trooper Robin Mungo, a state police spokeswoman. "We believe he got disoriented and somehow got turned around."
Both men were wearing seat belts, but the airbag in Blobner's Jeep did not deploy, police said. Wang suffered "moderate full-body injuries" that were not considered life-threatening, police said.
The crash occurred between the Chestnut and Hazlet street exits near the ramp from Route 28 to the Veterans Bridge in the North Side.
Because of the curve in the roadway, Blobner was not able to see Wang's vehicle heading toward him, Mungo said. Police did not immediately decide whether to file charges.
The highway is separated by concrete barriers and the HOV lanes. Signs are posted along all the exit ramps to warn motorists if they attempt to enter the highway, said PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi. PennDOT will conduct a separate investigation, he said.
In June 2006, an Aspinwall woman died after driving in the wrong direction on the Parkway North.
Crista N. Stoyanoff, 21, drove north in the southbound lanes of I-279 near the Venture Street exit and struck a pickup truck, spun and then was hit by a tractor-trailer.
Police were unsure where Stoyanoff entered the parkway but surmised she used the southbound East Street exit. She was not wearing a seat belt, and her car's airbag did not deploy, according to police.
