Fill-and-pave plan announced for I-95 in Philly

The section of I-95 closed because of a bridge collapse in Philadelphia will be temporarily fixed to get traffic flowing again as soon as possible.

The plan is to fill the gap with backfill and pave over it to create a temporary roadway, Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a June 14 morning news conference. Crews will be working 24/7 to get the work done, he said.

“We have determined collectively that the most efficient way to reopen I-95 is to backfill the gap in the roadway behind me and then pave over it. This approach will allow us to avoid delays due to shipment and supply chain issues and pursue a simple, quicker path,” Shapiro said.

Three lanes in each direction will be reopened, he said. Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll said the backfill is a “lightweight material, a recycled glass-type product” that is reusable.

The fill will be recycled glass from a Pennsylvania company. Shapiro said they expect the first loads of backfill to arrive on site Thursday.

“Once complete, cars and trucks can return to this stretch of I-95, and then we will work together to build a new bridge while making sure we keep six lanes of traffic open at all times that that road construction, that bridge construction, goes on,” Shapiro said.

The current bridge demolition is expected to be done Thursday. There was no timeline for the rest of the work but it will be done as quickly as possible, officials said.

“We will be working our tails off on this,” Shapiro said.

State Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll described the process.

“While we move forward with the plan to reconstruct a new bridge. Essentially what we will have is we will have three lanes in each direction in the center area of the void behind us and the outer area, 35 or so feet on either side will be constructed with a new facility that will not impact the traffic that flows north and south on the three lanes,” Carroll said. “Once those are completed, then we’ll transition the traffic to the completed new structure, excavate, remove the material that constitutes the fill, use that in another project, and then complete the reconstruction of the center part of the bridge. Once that’s not, of course, then the Cottman exit ramp will be reopened and we will have completed the work.”

A livestream is planned to be made available so residents can watch the repairs in real time.

Authorities have announced that truck driver Nathan Moody died in the incident from blunt trauma of the head, inhalation and thermal injuries. His manner of death was ruled an accident.

Moody was hauling gasoline on Sunday while attempting to navigate a left-hand turn after exiting at the Cottman Avenue off-ramp of I-95.

I-95 is the main north-south highway on the East Coast. An average of more than 160,000 vehicles travel across the damaged section of highway in Philadelphia every day, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Commercial vehicles comprise about 8% of the total, officials said yesterday, or 12,800 trucks daily. LL

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