A temporary fix to I-95 in Philly is underway, but officials can’t yet say how long it will take

Crews will work 24 hours a day to build a temporary roadway where a portion of I-95 collapsed Sunday in Northeast Philadelphia, a short-term fix that means the highway will partly reopen before the reconstruction project is completed, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday.

But while speaking to reporters during his second visit to the site of the deadly tanker truck crash, Shapiro declined repeated requests to provide a timeline or price tag for the project.

”We realize this is a challenge for motorists,” he said. “That’s why these guys are working their tails off to get it done as quickly as possible.”

Shapiro and top advisers outlined a several-step process set to begin Thursday once demolition of the damaged portion of the highway is complete. At that point, workers will truck in 2,000 tons of recycled glass pieces from Delaware County, which will be used to fill in the demolished area.

If all goes to plan, crews will then pave over the filled-in gap and open three lanes of traffic in each direction to vehicles.

It isn’t clear how long it will take to construct the temporary roadway, which will be six lanes as opposed to the normal eight so that traffic can flow while crews work on either side. The Cottman Avenue exit ramp will also remain closed as construction continues.

Officials say that once it’s complete, it will help blunt what has become a traffic nightmare in Northeast Philadelphia. On Sunday morning, a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel overturned beneath the highway and burst into flames. The driver, Nathan S. Moody of New Jersey, died in the crash.

» READ MORE: I-95 bridge collapse: What happened, the detours, and what happens next

The northbound side of the expressway collapsed after the blaze melted steel girders holding up the bridge. The southbound side was so structurally compromised that it required demolition.

Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have been combing through the wreckage and plan to issue a preliminary report in the next several weeks.

The closure of the stretch of interstate — a key artery between New York and Washington that sees roughly 160,000 vehicles a day — has caused ripple effects across the region. Commuters have reported waiting in traffic on Northeast Philadelphia side streets, officials in New Jersey say expressways are seeing heavier traffic than usual, and SEPTA leaders say the transit authority has scrambled to increase capacity on its rail lines to and from Northeast Philadelphia and the northern suburbs.

Shapiro, who spoke Wednesday alongside organized labor leaders, framed reconstructing the highway in sports terms.

“This is our championship,” he said. “We are ready to go and I am proud as hell to be on the team with all of these guys and gals standing behind me here today.”

Despite the speed of the replacement plan — unveiled just three days after the collapse — many questions remain. PennDot did not offer a definitive timeline for the overall project, though Shapiro has previously described it as a monthslong process.

As crews rebuild the collapsed section, the reconstruction will be livestreamed to give Pennsylvanians “a sense of timing as we move forward,” Shapiro said.

Building a temporary bridge on a bed of aggregate is a commonly used way to get a key roadway open quickly while also beginning to build a permanent replacement.

Frank Russo, a Havertown-based bridge engineer with more than 30 years’ experience, is not working on the I-95 project but said that a temporary structure can be finished in several days to a week, depending on the volume of fill material needed.

After the temporary lanes open to traffic, the area outside those lanes will have new lanes built on it, PennDot Secretary Mike Carroll said. Then crews will transition the traffic to the completed new structure, excavate the fill, and complete the reconstruction of the center portion of the bridge.

The last step, he said, will be reopening the Cottman Avenue exit ramp.

PennDot has hired the Philadelphia firm Buckley & Co. for the rebuild. The company has been called in twice before for emergency repairs on I-95 — once following an infamous 1996 tire fire, then again following another tanker truck crash in 1998.

Carroll said the firm has “an open-ended contract,” which he described as “very common in such a scenario.”

The state has not yet publicly released the contract.

Authorities who unveiled the reconstruction plan did not put an overall price tag on rebuilding the roadway.

The work will ultimately be paid for entirely with federal money, Shapiro said. The governor on Monday signed an emergency declaration that freed up $7 million in state funding that he said ensured the demolition and rebuild could begin right away.

On Wednesday, the Federal Highway Administration announced it had approved $3 million in emergency relief funding. The federal government will likely reimburse the state for any money spent in the initial phase of the project.

» READ MORE: New Jersey tanker truck company involved in I-95 collapse had a fiery crash nearby 8 years earlier

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle announced the federal investment Wednesday, saying in a joint statement that it’s “a strong start to restore essential traffic and begin the process of rebuilding I-95.” The lawmakers, all Democrats, vowed to “keep pushing the Department of Transportation to provide Philadelphia with the resources it needs.”

The announcement came a day after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the collapse site and said “all of the resources that PennDot needs federally will be available.” Buttigieg warned that the closure could cause supply-chain headaches across the East Coast for months.

Local business owners also say they have been severely impacted, citing traffic along the State Road corridor and an inability for customers or supplies to get to their doors. Mayor Jim Kenney on Wednesday encouraged affected businesses to call the city Department of Commerce, which is working with the Police Department to allow access routes into the area for employees, customers, and supplies.

The highway closure has also put added stress on SEPTA and sparked a renewed conversation about expanding transit options.

Ridership jumped at least 12% Monday on three Regional Rail lines serving areas north of the severed expressway compared with June 5, SEPTA said. Before this week, weekday Regional Rail ridership was approximately 50% of what it was pre-COVID-19, and service levels were about 70% of where they stood in 2019, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said.

”There is still plenty of room for more riders on Regional Rail,” he said.

And on Wednesday, City Councilmember Mike Driscoll, who represents the 6th District in the Northeast, said he will introduce a resolution at Thursday’s Council session to authorize hearings about constructing a subway in the median of Roosevelt Boulevard as an extension of the Broad Street Line.

SEPTA has described the proposed extension as unrealistic, but Driscoll said the I-95 collapse shows the Northeast is underserved by public transit.

“The incident sent countless residents scrambling with limited viable alternative options to get from the Northeast to Center City,” he said. “We need to reexamine the proposed Roosevelt Boulevard extension from every angle and leave no stone unturned to find a viable transportation alternative.”

Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.