Temporary lanes on I-95 will reopen Friday at noon, Shapiro says

The temporary lanes for the damaged section of Interstate 95 in Northeast Philadelphia will reopen noon Friday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office announced.

“Thanks to the crews that have worked around the clock to repair I-95, six lanes of traffic will reopen to motorists at 12:00 p.m. ET tomorrow,” Shapiro’s office said in an advisory Thursday evening.

On June 11, a tanker truck explosion caused a portion of I-95 to collapse, killing the driver and closing the busy highway in both directions.

Earlier this week, Shapiro said the lanes would reopen “this weekend,” well ahead of what initially had been anticipated as months of work.

With crews working around the clock (and having their efforts livestreamed), I-95 is on the verge of reopening with the temporary highway built on a bed of recycled glass bottles repurposed as gravel.

“We haven’t always had a can-do attitude around here, that we can get big things done, that we can get it done quickly and safely,” Shapiro told reporters Tuesday. “We’re going to change that attitude of people being surprised to folks expecting excellence from us.”

The recycled glass aggregate has been used to backfill several other Philadelphia-area projects, including an overnight parking apron for airplanes at Philadelphia International Airport.

“It’s safe, it’s sound, it’s ready to go to work,” PennDot Secretary Mike Carroll said Tuesday.

Even after I-95 reopens, the Cottman Avenue exits are expected to remain closed as crews work to fully reconstruct the highway, PennDot has said.

There is no official timeline for the full reconstruction. Officials have said they expect it to take months.

Crews will rebuild the outer sections of the bridge. Once completed, traffic will be diverted to those four lanes — two in each direction — as the recycled glass aggregate is removed and the inner sections of the bridge are built.

Once completed, I-95 will fully reopen with four lanes in each direction.