What to do if you slide on ice or hit a flooded viaduct

Why Philadelphia gets both problems

This metro has a long, genuinely cold winter and a summer that produces intense, fast rain. The winter picture is published: 110 miles of snow-emergency routes, a 30.7 inch record in the January 1996 blizzard, and a 1994 ice storm that put about an inch of ice on the region. That freeze-thaw cycle is also what breaks the pavement, which is why pothole season runs from the first thaw straight through spring. In summer the risk changes shape entirely and becomes water, moving fast, in places that are lower than the street around them.

Where ice hits first

Ice does not arrive evenly. Bridges, ramps and overpasses lose heat from above and below, so the elevated segments of I-95, I-76, I-676 Vine and I-476, and every ramp at the Conshohocken Curve, glaze over while the ground-level road a block away still looks clear. Untreated side streets in the rowhome grid freeze next and stay frozen longest where they get little winter sun. On I-76 and I-476, open ground west of the city adds blowing and drifting snow on top of the ice, which is a different hazard again.

Viaducts and underpasses

Philadelphia's flood risk on the road is often an underpass that sits lower than the street on either side. Hurricane Ida in 2021 filled the Vine Street Expressway (I-676) with about 15 feet of water after the 22nd Street pump station failed. Water in an underpass is deeper than it appears from a driver's seat, because you cannot see the dip until you are in it, and a stalled car in a filling underpass is a genuinely dangerous place to sit. If the water is still rising, get yourself clear first and tell us that when you call.

Never restart a car that stalled in standing water

If your engine died while you were driving through water, do not turn the key again. An engine draws air in through the intake, and if the intake is sitting below the waterline, cranking the starter pulls water into a cylinder instead of air. Water does not compress the way an air-fuel mixture does, so when the piston comes up to compress it, something has to give, usually a bent connecting rod or a cracked engine block. That single extra crank is often the difference between a car that needs a tow and a car that needs a new engine.

Salvage assessment or a normal tow? What decides it

How high the water got is what matters, not how deep it looked from the driver's seat. If water reached the door sills, the floorboards or higher, treat this as a flood-damage assessment rather than a routine breakdown: get the vehicle to a shop or your insurer's preferred facility for inspection before anyone tries to start it, and let them check the engine, transmission fluid and electrical system before you spend a dollar on repairs. A flood-damaged vehicle can become a salvage or total-loss question, so this decision has paperwork attached to it. If the water only came up around the tires and the engine never took a breath of it, this is usually a normal stuck-vehicle recovery and tow. A vehicle that slid into a curb or guardrail on ice should get the same suspension and alignment check before it goes back on the road.

Snow-emergency routes are part of the winter picture

Philadelphia designates 110 miles of snow-emergency routes. On a declared snow emergency, parking is banned on those routes and violators are ticketed and towed. Locate the car at findmytowedcar.org or call (215) 686-SNOW. The January 1996 blizzard dropped 30.7 inches, the city's single-day record. The 1994 ice storm put about an inch of ice on the region and knocked out power for 590,000 PECO customers.

Why an ice- or flood-affected vehicle goes on a flatbed

A vehicle that slid on ice or sat in standing water, even briefly, may have compromised brakes, a soaked electrical harness, bent suspension or damage in places you cannot see from outside. Ask the assigned operator to quote a flatbed for ice or flood recovery rather than a wheel lift, so nothing drags, nothing spins, and nothing is asked of a drivetrain that might already be damaged.