PHILADELPHIA — The section of Interstate 95 that collapsed in Philadelphia will reopen in two weeks, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Saturday after touring the area in a helicopter alongside President Joe Biden.
“We’re getting it done,” Shapiro said at a news conference at Philadelphia International Airport at the end of the flyover, which included members of Congress and the city’s mayor.
Biden highlighted the initial federal commitment and long-term support to permanently fix that vital highway.
“I am aware of the great importance that this section of highway has” for Philadelphia and the Northeast Corridor, he added. “More than 150,000 vehicles use it every day, including 14,000 trucks… It is paramount to our economy and it is paramount to our quality of life.”
Shapiro, who gave a date that is good news for users, said with Biden at his side: “I can say with confidence that we will have I-95 reopened within two weeks. We will get traffic moving again thanks to the extraordinary work that is being done here.”
He said that “people here in Philly have a real renewed sense of civic pride with this project” and a sense that “something special is happening in our community” by bringing people together.
The stretch of the East Coast’s main north-south highway collapsed last Sunday after a tractor-trailer carrying gasoline overturned on an off-ramp and was engulfed in flames.
State transportation officials said the driver lost control of his unit on a curve.
“I have ordered my team…to move heaven and earth to get it done as quickly and humanly as possible,” Biden declared. He said he told the governor that “no other project is more important right now in the country as far as I’m concerned.”
