THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: LANCASTER TWP — State police say a man is dead after being hit by a tractor-trailer along Interstate-79 Wednesday night.

Scott Garing, the chief of Harmony Fire District, said the department responded to the interstate's Little Creek Road exit at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, where they found a man laying on the interstate with “severe traumatic injuries.”

The man, whom Garing said was about 40 years old, was rushed in critical condition to UPMC-Passavant Cranberry hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The interstate's southbound lanes were shut down for several hours Wednesday night, as emergency responders blocked off the area to allow for a state police investigation. The road reopened shortly after midnight.

There was no information Thursday morning about the man's identity or why he was on foot along the road.

John Hanovick, the county's chief deputy coroner, said Thursday that the office planned to perform an autopsy this afternoon.