NTSB discloses little in its preliminary report of the I-95 collapse

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on its investigation into the gasoline-tanker crash and fire that led to the collapse of an elevated section of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia, but the five-paragraph document contains little new information on the June 11 accident.

At 6:17 a.m. that Sunday, a tractor-trailer carrying about 8,500 gallons of gasoline from Wilmington destined for a gas station on Oxford Avenue rolled over, crashed, and caught fire while the driver was exiting the highway on the Cottman Avenue off-ramp, the report said.

“The truck driver was unable to maintain control of the combination vehicle on the off-ramp,” according to the report. That matches conclusions drawn by the Pennsylvania State Police.

The blaze killed trucker Nathan S. Moody, 53, and caused the northbound lanes of I-95 to collapse onto the ramp below. NTSB investigators said the tractor-trailer was operated by an affiliate carrier leased to Penn Tank Lines, but The Inquirer reported that Moody, an owner-operator, worked for TK Transport, a gas-hauling company in Pennsauken.

TK Transport is a subsidiary of Chester Springs-based Penn Tank Lines, the newspaper said.

The NTSB said that the posted speed limit on the Cottman Avenue off-ramp was 25 mph and that there was a truck-rollover warning sign before the ramp curved and passed underneath the highway. The report did not provide an estimate of the truck’s speed when it crashed.

As of the week of June 11, The Inquirer reported that an online company profile maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicated that TK Transport was still “not authorized” to operate in an interstate capacity following a 2015 crash on an approach to the Betsy Ross Bridge.

There was no information on the operating status of the company in the preliminary NTSB report, though agency officials said at the time that investigators would be looking at its safety and maintenance records, among other things, as part of the investigation.

“All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar events,” the preliminary report concluded.

The NTSB investigation includes the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Pennsylvania State Police, PennDot, and city authorities.