Global Courant
Interstate 95 reopened Friday, less than two weeks after a deadly collapse in Philadelphia, a faster-than-expected rebuild to get traffic moving again on a heavily traveled stretch of the East Coast’s main north-south highway.
Workers are finalizing a six-lane intermediate road that will serve motorists during the construction of a permanent bridge. Crews worked around the clock and packed ahead of schedule, allaying fears that the critical highway would be closed for many weeks.
Traffic began flowing in one direction a little after 12:30 a.m. Friday, according to a live camera at the site, and state transportation officials said all lanes would reopen shortly.
“This was a moment of civic pride for Philly and Pennsylvania. We all came together and we proved we could do great things again in Pennsylvania,” Governor Josh Shapiro said at a news conference at the site.
After he spoke, a procession of fire engines — one featuring Philadelphia’s professional sports mascots — and police vehicles crossed the northbound lanes of I-95 to christen the new road as hard hat construction workers watched.
The elevated portion of I-95 collapsed early on June 11 after a tractor-trailer transporting gasoline spun on an exit ramp and caught fire. State transportation officials said the driver, who was killed, lost control on a curve. There were no other deaths or injuries.
The closure of a major commercial thoroughfare caused heavy traffic in and around Philadelphia and threatened to raise the cost of consumer goods as truckers were forced to detour the area. State and federal officials pledged swift action to minimize economic impact and inconvenience.
To get I-95 back up and running as quickly as possible, workers used about 2,000 tons (1,814 tons) lightweight glass nuggets to fill the underpass and raise it to ground level, then paved to create three lanes in each direction. Eventually there will be a permanent bridge.
President Joe Biden joined Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on a helicopter tour of the site just over a week after the collapse. In a statement Friday, Biden said he was “proud of the hard-working men and women on the ground who put their heads down, stuck with it and got I-95 reopened in record time.”
With rain threatening to delay reopening, a truck mounted blast dryer normally used to keep moisture off the track at Pocono Raceway was brought in to keep the fresh asphalt dry enough to paint lines.
The 24-hour construction work was streamed live and attracted thousands of viewers online.
The temporary roadway will be posted at 45 mph, with relatively narrower lanes, and the Pennsylvania transportation department on Friday urged motorists on the high-speed highway to slow through that section.
The disaster in Philadelphia echoed a similar situation in Atlanta, where an elevated section of Interstate 85 lies collapsed in a fireclosing the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city in March 2017. It took authorities there 43 days to replace it.
In Oakland, California, a collapsed highway ramp was replaced in 26 days.
