I-95 reconstruction after Philly bridge collapse: What we know and don’t know

Efforts to reconstruct the badly damaged section of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia, which has disrupted the busy transportation corridor since it collapsed Sunday, are underway.

Crews began work on the area immediately. But as traffic issues continue in the region amid the reconstruction, it remains unclear how long the disruption will last.

Here is what we know so far:

The collapsed bridge on I-95 is in Northeast Philadelphia, right at the Cottman Avenue exit ramp. A tanker truck fire on Sunday caused the northbound lane of the highway to collapse, and heavily damaged the southbound lane, which is being demolished.

“As quickly as possible,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Wednesday. He declined to give an exact timeline on the roadway’s reconstruction, but previously has said it would likely take months.

Crews, he said, would be working round the clock to get the collapsed section open to motorists.

“When I’m sleeping in the middle of the night, these guys are going to be working on this road,” Shapiro said. “When some of you choose to take a day and go down the Shore, these guys are going to be working on this road — 24/7 until this road is reopened.”

While Shapiro did not give a definitive timeline, he noted that demolition of the damaged portion of the highway — a task first estimated to take a week or more — would be done Thursday.

“That means we will have completed the demo in four days, not that week or more as they initially expected,” Shapiro said.

The total cost of reconstruction has not yet been finalized, officials said Wednesday.

Buckley & Co., the Philadelphia-based firm hired by PennDot for the rebuild, has an “open-ended contract,” Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll said. Those types of agreements are “very common in such a scenario” as the I-95 collapse, he added.

Funding to repair the damaged roadway, Shapiro said, will come from the federal government. The Federal Highway Administration on Wednesday announced it had approved $3 million in emergency funding to assist repairs. And with his disaster declaration on Monday, Shapiro freed up $7 million in state resources to cover “immediate costs.”

President Joe Biden, Shapiro said, has “made it clear that the federal government will provide whatever Pennsylvania needs to repair I-95.”

Founded in 1928, Buckley & Co. is a major regional construction firm best known for its work on large municipal infrastructure projects, including the construction of SEPTA rail stations, 1980s-era repairs to City Hall’s tower, and a series of major highway rebuilds over several decades.

Notably, the company was called in twice for emergency repairs on I-95 in the past — once following an infamous 1996 tire fire, then again following another tanker truck crash in 1998.

More recently, the company was contracted for a rebuild of the Chestnut Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River and improvements to ramps off of the Betsy Ross Bridge. This year, Buckley & Co. was selected to construct a forthcoming cap over I-95 near Penn’s Landing.

Following the completion of demolition this week, crew will “backfill” the destroyed area of the highway with Pennsylvania-made recycled glass aggregate, Shapiro said. To assist that process, the Pennsylvania State Police will escort trucks carrying the material from Delaware County in order to ensure it arrives to the site quickly.

Once the backfill is added to the roadway, crews will pave the surface level, and three center lanes in each direction will be reopened to motorists. The area outside those lines will have new lanes built on it, Carroll said.

“Once those are completed, we will transition the traffic to the completed new structure, excavate the material that constitutes the fill, use that in another project, and complete the reconstruction of the center part of the bridge,” Carroll said.

After the roadway is rebuilt, officials plan to reopen the Cottman Avenue exit ramp, which will mark the completion of the job.

If businesses around the collapsed section of highway run into issues with road closures or detours, they should call the city’s Department of Commerce, Mayor Jim Kenney said.

The department, he said, is working with the Philadelphia Police Department to provide access to the area for “all employees, customers, and deliveries.” But if issues arise, those impacted should call the department’s Office of Business Services at 215-683-2100, or email them at business@phila.gov.

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Shapiro announced Wednesday that a live feed of the repair site will be set up this week to give Pennsylvanians “a sense of timing as we move forward.” Shapiro did not say where the livestream could be viewed once it is set up.

“This is government work for the good people of Pennsylvania,” he said.

Staff writer Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.