Motorists got a dramatic look at nature up close and personal when honeybees swarmed a tollbooth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, officials said.
The large swarm descended on a canopy connecting three toll lanes of the Valley Forge Interchange during the morning and afternoon.
Traffic slowed and toll collectors had to abandon their posts when an estimated 40,000 bees decided to settle on the red and green traffic lights directly above the interchange's Lane 9 on June 18.
Collectors used their handheld radios to alert the interchange office, with supervisors there able to hear the bees' buzzing over the communications channel.
"We got the call: 'I need help out here. We got a lot of bees,' " interchange manager Jason Coyne said.
Coyne added he considered grabbing a can of insect repellent and dealing with the incident himself -- until he saw what he was up against.
"As soon as I came out and saw the cloud, I said, 'Nah, that's not me,' " he said. "It was insane."
Toll workers were transferred to other lanes situated away from the bee swarm, and there were no reports of anyone being stung, officials said.
Lanes nearest the swarm were made EZ-Pass only, so that cars equipped with the electronic pass could simply drive on through.
"We certainly didn't want our customers to pull up to a toll and open their window and have bees swarm in," Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission spokeswoman Mimi Doyle said.
Traffic did not experience any delays, she said.
After waiting a few hours to see if the bees would move off on their own, the commission turned to experts for help, calling the Philadelphia Bee Co.
Company workers arrived, scooped the swarm into a cardboard box, and took them to another location where they maintain hives.
Swarming is a normal activity in the life cycle of honeybees and bees will abandon a colony to establish a new one usually once a year, said beekeeper Jim Bobb, who routinely moves swarms in the region.
In the Philadelphia area, swarming usually takes place between mid-April and mid-June, and swarming is actually when bees are at their most calm, he said.
Most of the colony will find a temporary place to gather while scouts look for a new home location, usually a hollow in a tree or in its branches.
"They're usually not as obvious as being on a toll booth on the Valley Forge interchange," Bobb said.
