PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed early Sunday in Philadelphia after a tanker truck carrying petroleum product caught fire, shutting down a heavily traveled segment of the main north-south highway indefinitely. off the east coast of the United States, authorities said.
Transportation authorities warned that there were likely to be long delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area in the far northeast of the city. According to authorities, the tanker truck was carrying hundreds of liters of gasoline. The fire was reported to be under control.
Video from the scene showed a huge concrete slab that had fallen from I-95 onto the road below the flyover. There were no reports of injuries.
The northbound lanes of I-95 were gone, and the southbound lanes were “compromised” due to the heat from the fire, said Derek Bowmer, battalion chief with the Philadelphia Fire Department. Runoff from the fire or perhaps broken gas lines were causing explosions underground, he added.
Some type of crash occurred on a ramp under northbound I-95 around 6:15 am The northbound section above the fire quickly collapsed, state Department of Transportation spokesman Brad Rudolph said.
Mark Fusetti, a retired Philadelphia police sergeant, said he was driving south toward the city’s airport when he noticed thick plumes of black smoke billowing over the freeway. As he passed the fire, the road began to “slop,” creating a noticeable depression that was visible on video he recorded of the scene, he said.
He saw traffic stop in his rearview mirror. Soon after, the northbound lanes of the freeway collapsed.
“It was a crazy moment,” Fusetti said. “For it to bend and collapse so quickly, it’s pretty amazing.”
The southbound lanes were badly damaged, “and we’re evaluating that now,” Rudolph said Sunday afternoon.
There was no immediate timeline for the freeway to reopen, but Rudolph said officials would consider “a fill situation or temporary structure” to expedite the effort.
Motorists were sent on a 43-mile detour, which was going “better than it would go on a weekday,” Rudolph said. The fact that the collapse occurred on a Sunday helped ease the congestion.
He expected traffic “to become significantly clogged in all detour zones.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he was in contact with city and state leaders, and that the Federal Highway Administration has asked neighboring states to alert drivers.
“This is a major transportation route for goods and people, and the closure will have significant impacts for the city and the region until rebuilding and recovery is complete,” Buttigieg said in a message posted on social media. “Our department will be there with support until I-95 returns to normal.”
Most drivers traveling along the I-95 corridor between Delaware and New York City are using the New Jersey Turnpike instead of the segment of the interstate where the collapse occurred. Until 2018, drivers did not have a direct freeway connection between I-95 in Pennsylvania and I-95 in New Jersey. They had to use a few kilometers of surface roads, with traffic lights, to get from one to the other.
