A section of the I-95 collapses in Philadelphia. (Credit: Washington's ghost)
Posted on 06/11/2023 9:49:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A section of the I-95 collapses in Philadelphia. (Credit: Washington's ghost)
A massive fire caused a section of Interstate 95 to collapse Sunday morning in Northeast Philadelphia, causing both directions of travel to be shut down. Although no fatalities have been reported, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said that a person may still be trapped inside a vehicle underneath the rubble.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Brad Rudolph said the cause of the disaster was still under investigation but that it did not appear to be due to foul play. Fox News, however, is reporting that a tanker tank may have exploded:
Chaos ensued when a tanker truck caught fire when reportedly traveling under an overpass, causing the elevated structure to collapse. Authorities believe the truck could have been carrying hundreds of gallons of gasoline.
“That structure quickly collapsed with the heat of the fire as big as it was,” Rudolph said. “And then the southbound structure was also shut down because it was compromised by the fire as well.”
Scenes from the site were harrowing:
This is insane 😳 They are incredibly lucky it didn’t collapse while you were driving over it. 🙏🏾
#grindfacetv
TT/ barb_wire#I95Collapse #Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/zh32h9KPYs— GrindFace TV (Entertainment) (@grindfacetv) June 11, 2023
President Joe Biden has been made aware of the situation, and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said they’d be willing to offer any assistance needed:
The President has been briefed on the collapse and White House officials have been in contact with Governor Shapiro and Mayor Kenney's offices to offer assistance.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) June 11, 2023
Authorities said that the bridge would take weeks to fix, creating traffic nightmares for the surrounding areas. As a former East Coaster, I can tell you that the I-95 is one of the most important corridors for the entire region, and its closure will create havoc. This particular section carries at least 160,000 vehicles a day.
General Manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Leslie Richards said, “This is an emergency that has created a tremendous challenge for our transportation network. We are all going to need some extra patience in the coming days.”
The situation reminds me of what the City of Los Angeles experienced in 1994 when a portion of the 10 freeway collapsed during the Northridge earthquake. Although officials predicted that the closure would cause chaos for months, it was actually re-opened 74 days earlier than expected due to Herculean efforts by the contractors.
Let’s hope the folks in Philly experience similar results. Officials say they will know more Monday morning about the extent of the damage.
I95 overpass collapsed in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/Kevnlvopjs
— Washingtons ghost (@hartgoat) June 11, 2023
Was the car parked there? I heard it was. Where is the driver?
Our useless illegitimate "government".
Looks like the may have to demolish more than just the overpass.
Was this due to Global Warming like the Canadian forest fires?
This whole regime belongs in hell.
The ‘government’ will likely use the event to advance the ‘reduction in cars on the road’ argument...
Even concrete burns if it’s hot enough.
Women, children and minorities affected most
We obviously need more equity in our bridge collapses
Yep- put a private company in charge. I remember in Ca when the highway collapsed in an earthquake and a private company had it fixed and up and running months earlier than estimated.
But bring up a company from the south. Remember the ‘Big Dig’ and that union nightmare in the north.
“Fire can’t melt steel” at any moment now..
Annny moment.
So *officials* predict months of disruption.
ANYONE could have figured that out.
We don’t need the government *experts* or *officials* informing us of the blindingly obvious, as if it would not be true if they didn’t.
Train derailments
Sudden string of wildfires across Canada
Spate of warehouses on fire
Covid
Antifa and BLM riots, burning, looting
.
Aside from our importation of thousand of terrorists through our southern border and George Soros’ shenanigans, America is doing just dandy.
ABC News report this morning described the affected overpass had been recently “repaired and reconstructed.”
wasn’t that one of Obama’s “shovel ready” projects?
More importantly, was the driver diverse? I expect the driver was diverse. That is because thw diversity of the driver has not been released.
Atlanta. 2017. Interstate 85 bridge collapse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse
Homeless jerks with a campfire ignited many, many spools of fiber optic conduit stored under an elevated section of I-85 a little north of Midtown Atlanta, between the I-75 split and GA 400. Destroyed a section of the elevated highway, some of the supports.
Government got a contractor on board to replace who had huge incentives for a fast replacement, then got out of the way other than ensuring quality of construction. 43 days after the event, I-85 reopened.
This is a section of road that’s going to take weeks to repair. How long did it take DeSantis to open the road in Florida that had several sections completely gone?
“As a former East Coaster, I can tell you that the I-95 is one of the most important corridors for the entire region, and its closure will create havoc.”
Sure, for Philly... As has always been, traffic between NYC and South takes the Jersey Turnpike or I-295 and can easily avoid this. South of Philly and Delaware can cross the Delaware River into south Jersey.
We had this happen on I74 in Illinois. Fortunately the east bound lanes weren't effected and west bound traffic was able to be rerouted to an east bound lane. It took several weeks to create the cross over lanes. It took about 6 months or so complete the repairs. The I95 repairs will depend on how extensive the damage is. I think it likely both North and South bound sections will have to be replaced. Contractors will likely be working around the clock to get it open, weather permitting.
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