Tacony businesses squeezed by I-95 collapse are now eligible for low-interest emergency federal loans

Restaurants and shops that lost income as a result of this month’s I-95 bridge collapse are eligible for low-interest loans of up to $2 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Thursday.

The agency issued a disaster declaration for the commercial corridors alongside the damaged section of highway based on losses the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency documented in a survey of businesses, officials said.

“I’m definitely going to look into” the loans, said Chris Wilson, a founding partner of Sharkey’s Grill & Ale House, who was hearing of the declaration for the first time.

“It was a dramatic impact on us — the loss of wages and income to our company. ... Anything will help us,” Wilson said

Early on June 11, a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline crashed while negotiating a sharp turn on the Cottman Avenue exit ramp underneath the I-95 overpass.

The accident ignited a hot fire that weakened the steel support girders of the pavement decks. The northbound lanes collapsed, and the southbound lanes were closed and later demolished because of damage.

Nearby businesses along State Road that rely on traffic to bring customers, such as Curran’s Irish Inn and Sharkey’s, were mostly empty as local detour routes for southbound I-95 clogged local streets with traffic.

A temporary bridge reopened last Friday, but ramps are not available there. Businesses are still affected by traffic on detour routes, though some owners said this week that they were doing better.

Business at Curran’s experienced a major hit in the first days after the bridge collapse, but manager Michael Ditro said the impact wasn’t enough to justify taking out a loan.

“No, we’re not going to do any of that,” he said. The roads around the pub “were only closed 12 days. It didn’t affect us that much.”

But “I hope the people who get it deserve it,” he said. “We’re fine. We’re open and we’re happy.”

At Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse, a popular barbecue spot, co-owner Debbie Betten said she would look into applying for the loan.

“We were affected, so we’d see how much we’d need to compensate for our loss,” Betten said, adding that business was down 50% for the two weeks I-95 was being repaired. In the days since the road reopened, business has been up again.

Across the street, Sharkey’s is still recovering, with the dinner crowd about half of what it would normally be this time of year.

“I don’t know if people are still afraid to travel down this way because they don’t know the conditions,” Wilson said.

As a result, he said, Sharkey’s has cut employee hours and closed early many nights when the bar sits empty.

The partners have applied for grants, on which they’re waiting to hear back, Wilson said, but they remain hopeful that business will pick up again in another week or two.

“We’re basically just playing it by ear right now until things start picking up,” he said.

After the ceremony opening the temporary span on Friday, Shapiro, his staff, and other participants stopped at Curran’s, where the governor reportedly sampled Cajun chicken wings, and at Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse.

Both restaurants catered Sunday’s appreciation party for the construction crews, said owners and managers. (Wilson at Sharkey’s said he was not asked about that event.)

“My administration led an all-hands-on-deck response to get the highway reopened as quickly as possible so customers can return — but I know we need to do more to make those small businesses whole,” Shapiro said in a statement.

“We’ll continue to cut through the red tape and provide all the support Philadelphia needs as we work to rebuild and recover,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro requested the assistance in a Wednesday letter to the SBA certifying that “at least five small businesses in the disaster area suffered substantial economic injury” and need financial assistance “not otherwise available on reasonable terms.”

That will allow owners of the businesses to apply for Economic Injury Disaster loans with interest rates of 4% or less.