I-95 construction crews get a huge thank-you party. And a reminder to return to work at 7 a.m.

After two weeks of around-the-clock intensive repair work on I-95, dozens of construction workers finally had a moment to relax and have a beer on Sunday afternoon at an I-95 Appreciation event at Xfinity Live!

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Jim Kenney were among the speakers who applauded the fast work of hundreds of laborers after Friday’s opening of temporary lanes.

The crowd, which included those on the site and behind-the-scenes, was cheerful as workers celebrated the rapid repair with their families and friends. Many wore their Phillies gear and watched the large screen that put the Phillies-Mets game side by side with the I-95 live cam.

The celebration was organized by Xfinity Live! to thank first responders, construction workers, and the many other different teams that came together at breakneck speed to reopen I-95 after a bridge collapse.

“We’re building America, but yet we never get recognition,” said Bradley Alexander, an operating engineer based in Moorestown, who said he’s been working construction jobs since he was 15. “This being 95 and a big deal, so now we’re getting noticed.”

“Normally people hate us ‘cause we’re messing up traffic, but they love us now,” said Chad Lavallee, an engineer for construction contractor Buckley & Co. who was pulling 18-hour days and then going home to watch the I-95 livestream.

The live cam was popular with construction crews, their families, and the public. Many workers said they felt like the city was cheering them on, and their friends would look for them on the stream.

“It was nice to see things progress on the livestream, I actually appreciated it,” said Adam Bratrude, a senior civil engineer who lives in Phoenixville. “You often worry about being under the microscope like that, but it worked out quite nicely.”

It was a sprint to reopen the highway so quickly, ahead of the initial timeline that had anticipated months of work. I-95 was shut down on June 11 when a tanker truck carrying gasoline caught fire while it was making a turn near the Cottman Avenue exit and crashed. The driver, Nathan Moody, was killed. The fire caused a portion of the highway to collapse and damaged other sections of the road. Crews worked 24/7 and spared no time to make temporary repairs to reopen 6 lanes by noon Friday. It will take months for the repairs to be fully completed.

“Normally you get half hour breaks for lunch, now it’s, ‘Yo, go grab your lunch!’” said Toni Harris of West Philly, a cement mason with Bucks Concrete Services and a member of Local 592 of Cement Masons and Plasterers. “You might have a shovel in one hand and a sandwich in the other.”

Harris said she missed out on spending time with her 15-year-old, but she said her daughter understood why it was so important. Marloy Gonzalez, a shop steward for Local 57 Laborers’ International Union of North America and a laborer with C. Abbonizio Contractors, also mentioned that he hadn’t seen his wife much lately because he was working night shifts.

“My wife was leaving for work while I was coming in; we’d only see each other for a couple hours,” said Gonzalez, who lives in Pennsauken. “It was rough, I told her it was going to be for a little bit.” Still, he was excited to be celebrating. “I felt like I was a player in the game; instead of booing us, everybody was cheering us on.”

During his remarks, Shapiro compared the repair efforts to those of a team championship and praised the crews.

“What you did was not just build the road, … not just get people moving again, give families more time together, give truckers the ability to get their product to market quicker,” said Shapiro. “You inspired a city, a region, a commonwealth, and a country in showing them what hard work, what hard union work could lead to … when we all come together.”

Rob Buckley, head of Buckley & Co., wiped tears from his eyes as the governor thanked him. After hearing his name chanted, Buckley addressed the crowd and showed off the bright green T-shirts handed out to the crews. They pictured a bridge with the words “Philadelphia Bridge Reconstruction Champions.”

He ended his speech with a reminder that made the audience laugh: “Tomorrow, don’t be late — 7 o’clock sharp.”