Permanent fix of I-95 after collapse in Philadelphia "about three-quarters of the way done"
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Ten months ago, a crash collapsed a portion of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia.
On June 11, 2023, a tanker truck fire destroyed the structure over the Cottman Avenue off-ramp and made I-95, one of the busiest highways in the country, impassable.
But only briefly. In the days after the collapse, crews worked around the clock — and on a live stream — to reopen the highway. Twelve days later on June 23, 2023, the highway bridge over Cottman Avenue was reopened using a locally made glass aggregate. It was a temporary fix.
"We're now doing the permanent fix," PennDOT District 6 Executive Louis Belmonte said. "We're about three-quarters of the way done."
Rebuilding I-95 in Philadelphia
Belmonte oversees all engineering, construction, maintenance and operation for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Southeast Region. He said crews are building and constructing I-95 "as safely, methodically and as efficiently as we can."
Traffic on I-95 was shifted into the newly constructed outside lanes in November 2023. Since then, construction of the middle section of the highway has continued. Construction crews recently placed the concrete for the new back wall in the northbound lanes of I-95.
"It's basically 16 beams in the middle," Belmonte said. "It's the eight beams in the middle where we have to pour the deck on."
"There are also certain specifications that we call on for these projects, and they're very stringent," said Rob Buckley, president of South Philadelphia's Buckley and Company, a major regional construction firm. "So, your temperature, the weather, that's why the date is a sliding scale. Is it going to rain next week? We don't know. But we are going to use common sense more than anything else."
Late spring 2024 is still their goal for completion.
"This is the important job in the U.S. today"
Buckley and Company was contracted by PennDOT to perform the reconstruction of I-95.
"When the president says this is the most important job in the U.S. today, there's a little bit of pressure there," Buckley said.
Buckley anticipates that there will not be any more delays or closures on I-95 as crews work on the outside lanes. It's just going to be a traffic switch to the center.
The recent closure of I-95 at the Aramingo Avenue/Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange for the Conrail Bridge repairs, which Buckley was also a part of fixing, did not slow down the work at Cottman.
PennDOT said that work proceeded as normal on I-95 at Cottman Avenue during that time and Buckley handled the two projects at once.
The entire spot of I-95 at Cottman Avenue in the Northeast is expected to reopen in late spring 2024.