I-95 will fully reopen in Northeast Philadelphia this week, a year after fiery highway collapse

A year after the fiery collapse of a section of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia, all eight lanes along the highway are reopening to traffic this week, returning the key transportation artery back to normal.

A host of construction managers, transportation officials, and politicians gathered near the northbound Cottman Avenue off-ramp section Thursday morning to celebrate the project’s completion.

Nearly a year ago, on June 11, a tanker truck tumbled down the ramp and burst into flames, leading to the bridge’s collapse, the highway’s closure, and the killing of the vehicle’s driver.

Leaders such as Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll have lauded the expedited construction project that, thanks to an infusion of state and federal support, resulted in a temporary fix that reopened the bridge to traffic 12 days after the crash.

But not all lanes were open until this week.

The center portion of the reconstructed bridge will be fully reopen to traffic by Friday, according to PennDot. Crews were to remove temporary construction barriers Thursday night through early morning Friday as they paint new lane markings, returning traffic to pre-collapse patterns. New safety measures will be put in place, Carroll said.

Across speeches Thursday, those involved commended the state, federal, and local collaboration that orchestrated the $20 million project in under a year.

Those in hardhats and work vests received much applause.

“I’d like to thank the men and women of the Philadelphia Building Trades, who are standing out here, who did this job in the heat, in the cold,” said Butch Bennett, assistant business manager to the Philadelphia Building Trades. “They performed so well — where there were people doubting the 12 days, let alone under a year.”

Speakers from Bennett to Carroll to Leslie Richards, general manager of SEPTA, described the family gatherings, sports games, and career commitments put on hold in the days after the collapse. They also recounted the showing of support from local businesses, including the “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of hoagies provided to construction crews during the job.

State Sen. Jimmy Dillon, whose district covers the site, said his first impression of the scene after the collapse was “something I’ll never forget, you could feel the devastation.”

In addition to the Northeast Philadelphia community, Dillon commended the legislature in Harrisburg passing an act to free up funding for the bridge’s reconstruction.

Shapiro wasn’t present at Thursday’s news conference, though the governor has held his administration’s support for the project as a key achievement of his time in office.

In addition to the 12-day temporary fix, construction officials said Thursday that the full reopening would normally be a two-year job that had been successfully “compressed to one year,” and that they had secured the required steel quicker than expected.

There were no reported workplace accidents throughout the year of construction, according to officials, even as crews worked lengthy shifts to complete the project.

“They don’t complain, they just do it,” Wayne Miller, president of the Building Trades, said of the yellow-vested workers flanking him at the podium. “Philadelphia is indebted to you for the rest of your lives.”