Collapsed section of I-95 under repair
Governor ‘confident’ that highway will reopen in weeks rather than months
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Saturday he was “confident” the portion of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia that collapsed last weekend will open within the next two weeks.
“We are going to get traffic moving again,” Shapiro said on Twitter, crediting an “all hands on deck approach.” Initially, he had said he expected the repairs to take months.
The crash last weekend of a truck hauling gasoline led to a fire that left a section of the northbound side of the highway in ruins and the southbound section so badly damaged that it was demolished last week. Local officials are working with the federal government to rebuild the roadway.
Before the collapse, that stretch of the highway, in northeast Philadelphia near the Delaware River, was used by about 160,000 vehicles a day, officials said, although much of the interstate traffic traveling through the region already bypassed Philadel- phia using the New Jersey Turnpike, which runs roughly parallel to I-95 east of the river.
In an effort to ease traffic concerns, officials have added extra cars to commuter trains, arranged detours and offered free parking at some mass transit lots.
President Joe Biden took a helicopter tour of the collapsed portion of the highway and met Saturday with construction crews and emergency workers who responded to the crash. Biden said people were working to get the project done “in record time” and that I-95 was critical to the local economy and quality of life.
He added that the federal government had released $3 million in emergency funds to offset the cost of repairs and that “a lot more” federal funding was coming.
“I grew up not very far from here,” Biden said. “I know how important this stretch of highway is, not just to Philly but to the entire Northeast corridor, and to my home state.”
The fire ignited after a truck, which was carrying about 8,500 gallons of gasoline, crashed and landed on its side, rupturing the tank, officials said.
On Tuesday, authorities identified the driver as Nathan Moody, 53.