Philly’s I-95 will reopen this weekend, governor says

I-95 in Philadelphia will open this weekend, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has announced.

The announced reopening is about two weeks after a portion of the highway collapsed.

“Based on the tremendous progress these crews made over the weekend and the time it takes to complete the remaining steps, I can now say that we will have I-95 back open this weekend,” Shapiro said in a statement.

“We have worked around the clock to get this done, and we’ve completed each phase safely and ahead of schedule. That’s all due to the incredible coordination with our local, state, and federal partners – and thanks to the hard-working men and women of the Philadelphia Building Trades who are making this happen.”

The announced reopening is a week ahead of a two-week timeline announced last Saturday.

On June 11, a gasoline tanker carrying more than 8,000 gallons of fuel tipped over while the driver was negotiating a ramp curve. The truck caught fire under an overpass. The fire caused a section of the northbound lanes to cave in and also damaged the southbound lanes. The truck driver, Nathan Moody, 53, died in the incident.

Demolition work on the damaged stretch of the highway took only four days last week, the governor noted in the news release. Construction crews also began filling the gap in the interstate last week.

“Throughout the holiday weekend, crews made significant additional progress by filling the gap with ultra-lightweight foamed glass aggregate to build up to surface level. This innovative approach was made possible with the aggregate material from a local Delaware County business, which has provided the ultra-lightweight foamed glass aggregate for use on other projects here in Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and in other states across the country, including in New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, and others,” according to the governor’s statement.

Three lanes in each direction are expected to be open. Crews will begin paving three new lanes in both directions of the highway this week ahead of the expected reopening this weekend, according to the governor’s office statement.

President Joe Biden and other officials surveyed the site on Saturday. He said he ordered his staff “to move heaven and earth to get this done as soon as humanly possible.”

Permanent repairs to the stretch of I-95 will be done after the temporary fill-and-pave interim repairs are completed. A new permanent bridge will be constructed while keeping six lanes of traffic flowing at all times, state officials promise.

I-95 is a major highway on the East Coast that stretches nearly 2,000 miles from Maine to Florida. This stretch of the interstate carries approximately 160,000 vehicles per day. About 8% of the total are commercial trucks, state officials report.

Live video

Click here to view a live video of the construction work via the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. LL

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