I-95 in Philadelphia Has Collapsed

[47of74]

Northbound I-95 in Philadelphia collapsed and it's not known if the southbound part is salvageable right now.

Quote

A section of northbound I-95 in Philadelphia has collapsed after a tanker truck caught fire underneath the highway, Philadelphia officials said Sunday morning.

“We did have a collapse of 95 on the northbound side, and the southbound side is compromised by heavy fire,” Derek Bowmer, battalion chief for the Philadelphia Fire Department, said during a news conference Sunday morning. “It looked like we had a lot of heat and heavy fire underneath the underpass.”

Explosions around the highway collapse were caused by “runoff of maybe some fuel or gas lines that could have been compromised by the accident,” said Bowmer.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the US Department of Transportation is offering assistance to Pennsylvania after the collapse.

And I think even if Biden hadn't won Pennsylvania's electoral votes he'd be putting the full resources of the Federal government at the disposal of Pennsylvania, unlike former guy who would often condition how much help he would offer on "how nice" a state was to him.

It kind of made me think of the I-35W bridge collapse way back in 2007.  That cut off a major transportation artery in the Twin Cities, especially since trucks are not allowed on 35E.  They had the replacement up and going a little over a year later.  I know some of the alternate routes now so I could figure out other ways around too if the need arose and I imagine people in Philadelphia  but I gather a lot of out of town people wouldn't.  I mean I didn't know about state highways 100, 62, 77, 55, et al until I moved up here and got familiar enough with the area. 

[MayMay1123]

Very close to me... luckily none of us need to be on there. There are detours, but none will be convenient. I'm hoping they'll be able to fix the highway pretty quickly, and leave the on ramp for last. 

[Dandruff]

I-95 is a very major artery (Maine to Florida) and I wonder how long it'll take to fix it.  It also begs the question of how vulnerable other parts of our highways are.

[MayMay1123]

3 hours ago, Dandruff said:

I-95 is a very major artery (Maine to Florida) and I wonder how long it'll take to fix it.  It also begs the question of how vulnerable other parts of our highways are.

That on ramp was just redone recently, I believe. A tanker exploded and caused several fires, so it was pretty extreme. 

[JenJ1978]

Most traffic going north on the East Coast splits off in Delaware and goes up through New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike. I-95 in Philly is a spur (until a few years ago, it deadended into local roads, now at least it leads to the PA Turnpike and that crosses over to the NJ Turnpike). It's horrid for commuters (the closed off section intersects with 2 bridges to NJ) and locals, but it's not so bad for through traffic. 

[Loveday]

Yikes. Relieved to know no one was hurt (as of the latest I've heard). I have several relatives in the vicinity, but thankfully none of them needs to use that portion of I-95 for daily commutes. 

[GreyhoundFan]

The DC area news radio station was saying they were told it would be months to repair.

[thoughtful]

2 hours ago, MayMay1123 said:

5 hours ago, Dandruff said:

I-95 is a very major artery (Maine to Florida) and I wonder how long it'll take to fix it.  It also begs the question of how vulnerable other parts of our highways are.

That on ramp was just redone recently, I believe. A tanker exploded and caused several fires, so it was pretty extreme.

Yeah, I don't think this collapse was due to aging infrastructure. The tanker was in an underpass under I-95, and that's the section that collapsed. Videos of the fire show substantial flames.

https://6abc.com/interstate-95-collapse-i-95-fire-philly-overpass-tanker/13368736/

Edited June 12, 2023 by thoughtful
grammar

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, JenJ1978 said:

Most traffic going north on the East Coast splits off in Delaware and goes up through New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike. I-95 in Philly is a spur (until a few years ago, it deadended into local roads, now at least it leads to the PA Turnpike and that crosses over to the NJ Turnpike). It's horrid for commuters (the closed off section intersects with 2 bridges to NJ) and locals, but it's not so bad for through traffic. 

Thanks - it has been years since I've driven up north (from the DC area), but was back and forth countless times before that.  The one time I decided to stay on I-95 instead of taking the NJ Turnpike I got very lost.  Must have been before they connected it to the PA Turnpike.  I'm glad there's now a viable option.

[MayMay1123]

20 hours ago, Loveday said:

Yikes. Relieved to know no one was hurt (as of the latest I've heard). I have several relatives in the vicinity, but thankfully none of them needs to use that portion of I-95 for daily commutes. 

They just announced they pulled a body out of the tanker truck. 

[Loveday]

2 minutes ago, MayMay1123 said:

They just announced they pulled a body out of the tanker truck. 

Oh, no. 😢 So sorry to hear that.

[47of74]

They got the interstate reopened in 12 days. 

Quote

A combination of NASCAR equipment, recycled glass and police escorts helped reopen the repaired portion of I-95 in Philadelphia way ahead of schedule.

Six lanes reopened to motorists at noon on Friday, 12 days after a bridge collapsed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced.

The collapsed section was a headache to commuters, causing major congestion in traffic. The primary detour was about 23 miles using state or interstate roads, local transportation officials previously said.

Three new lanes opened in both directions of the interstate, the governor’s office said. The temporary lanes will work to relieve commuters while work continues to rebuild the outer sections of the interstate’s permanent bridge, the transportation department said.

I looked and so far there’s a complete absence of Branch Trumpvidian commentary in the article.  I’m glad they got temporary repairs done to at least relieve some of the traffic headaches.