[kellyhound]

Commuters faced delays in the Northeast on Monday after a vehicle fire under I-95 in Philadelphia caused a portion of the major interstate to collapse over the weekend, setting the region up for a long period of reconstruction and travel headaches.

"This morning, we had folks who woke up having disconnected for the weekend not realizing what had happened, and traffic began to mount," Jana Tidwell, a spokesperson for AAA, said Monday.

Tidwell, who was at the site Monday, described the scene as "devastating." She said crews have been working around the clock to remove debris from the road, which runs through a city neighborhood.

"This is going to have a ripple effect throughout the region for days, weeks and even months to come as commuters who do use this roadway find other routes," Tidwell said.

The northbound side of I-95 completely collapsed early Sunday after a commercial truck carrying a petroleum-based product caught fire, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said. The southbound side is not structurally sound to carry any traffic over it, he said.

Information about the cause of the fire would be released once an investigation is complete, Eric McLaurin, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department, said Monday.

State and regional officials created detours and are working on "further alternative methods" to ensure folks can safely get to where they need to go. "We're also looking at interim solutions to connect both sides of I-95 to get traffic through the area," Shapiro said.

Late Sunday, at least one vehicle was still trapped under the collapsed roadway, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, Shapiro said. "We’re still working to identify any individual or individuals who may have been caught in the fire and the collapse," he said.

Demolition of the collapsed bridge was underway Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said.

Shapiro said he plans to issue a disaster declaration Monday so the state and city can receive federal funds to begin reconstruction of the heavily traveled artery. He said federal authorities have assured him there will be "no delay" in approving the declaration and accessing federal assistance with rebuilding this "critical" transportation artery.

"I-95 is a critical roadway that supports our economy and plays an important role in folks’ everyday lives," Shapiro said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was monitoring the situation, and President Joe Biden was also briefed. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was working with the Pennsylvania State Police to conduct a safety investigation.

The main north-south highway on the East Coast stretches from Florida through Maine to Canada. An average of roughly 160,000 vehicles a day travel through the area of the overpass collapse, according to state officials.

Is I-95 still closed?
A complete rebuild of I-95 roadway is expected to take "a number of months," Shapiro said. He said his office will have a better timeline after state officials and engineers finish their structural review. "It is a remarkably devastating sight," he said.

[GODREKR]

This just added an extra 20 minutes minimum to one of my routes. I'm sure it's going to take at least a year to finish if not longer the way things like this are handled.

[houseoftechno]

I'm guessing the fire weakened the steel beams holding up that elevated road section, until the beams failed.

[houseoftechno]

Vid3 with ACDC singing Highway to Hell.

Highway to Hell. Highway to Philthadephia. Same difference.

[durt]

That's a mess

[William May]

Originally Posted by GODREKR ↗

This just added an extra 20 minutes minimum to one of my routes. I'm sure it's going to take at least a year to finish if not longer the way things like this are handled.

On our news in Tucson, they said they will be working 24 hours a day to get it repaired, and they already had plans drawn up. Sounds like mostly replacing the bridge with the same stuff it previously had, so just pull up the drawings and get the stuff on order right away.

Unless they are REALLY slow there.

[GODREKR]

Originally Posted by William May ↗

On our news in Tucson, they said they will be working 24 hours a day to get it repaired, and they already had plans drawn up. Sounds like mostly replacing the bridge with the same stuff it previously had, so just pull up the drawings and get the stuff on order right away.

Unless they are REALLY slow there.

I heard that too. And I hope they keep to their word. But you never know. It's always something with these municipal constructors.

[STINGER]

Crazy how the people drove over it as the bridge was already starting to sink down

[junkie_]

They’ll have it up an runnin in about 6 years, they’ve been dickin around with road work in what appears to be the same stretch of road for the last year and a half