TN Correspondent

editor@tnonline.comRush Township Police and surrounding fire police units were called to the Hometown area to deal with a 5-to-10 mile traffic jam late Friday afternoon.Very heavy traffic on SR-54 east was backed up all the way to I-81 due to distant road construction on I-81 and a State Police detour that encouraged drivers to turn off at Hometown and re-enter I-81 northbound at the Arthur Gardner Highway just before Hazleton.A heavy volume of weekend traffic, which included Pocono race-goers, contributed to the road congestion. Traffic on 309 south was backed up past Wal-Mart for miles. Other roads in Hometown were also packed with heavy traffic as drivers tried to avoid the intersection. Fire Police units controlled these roads as well.A large National Guard 18-vehicle convoy returning from Virginia and heading towards Wilkes-Barre was also diverted onto SR-54 east into Hometown as one of its trucks experienced a problem.About 10 Hometown and Quakake Fire Police volunteers responded to help the Rush Township Police direct traffic until traffic was moving regularly.