Philadelphia firefighters riding aboard Engine 38 sailed across a section of I-95 Friday, reopening the East Coast’s main expressway. The ride came just 12 days after a blazing gasoline tanker-truck crash destroyed a bridge over the northbound Cottman Avenue exit ramp.

Right after Engine 38, the first fire company at the scene of the June 11 collapse, came Gritty, standing atop a ladder truck beside Philadelphia’s other sports mascots and pumping his furry fists — an exclamation point on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s praise for the “grit” of the 200 union construction workers who got the highway open months ahead of initial estimates, all while being broadcast live online.

“Over the past 12 days, the eyes of the nation have been on Pennsylvania. We’ve shown them what our grit, our determination, are all about. We showed them good government in action,” Shapiro said at a news conference on the temporary six-lane roadway over I-95, moments before traffic once again began flowing.

» READ MORE: I-95 reopens to traffic in Northeast Philly, 12 days after a deadly fire caused a bridge collapse

— Thomas Fitzgerald and Oona Goodin-Smitih

Late afternoon downpours have set off flash-flood warnings along the Delaware River from Philadelphia to northern Delaware, including the damaged area of I-95 where temporary lanes were opened at noon.

Heavy rains were expected to continue until 6 or 7 p.m., said Joe DeSilva, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, and the warnings remain in effect until 8:30 p.m.

The weather service said that up to 2 inches of rain had fallen in the warned areas, which included parts of Delaware, Montgomery,, Gloucester, Camden, and New Castle Counties.

Flooding led to lane restrictions on on I-95 southbound at Girard Avenue, the weather service reported, and a lane closure on 95 near Exit 4 at the Commodore Barry Bridge.

Street flooding was reported in Gloucester County.

Stream and river levels remain low due to the recent dry spell, and all the flooding Friday has been the result of the downpours, DeSilva said.

He said rains should back off after 7 p.m.

— Anthony R. Wood

Over 1,500 viewers tuned into the sleeper hit I-95 livestream to watch the first set of cars drive over the temporarily patched portion of I-95 on Friday afternoon.

The stretch of highway in Northeast Philly reopened to cars after 12 days of constant construction — and a press conference helmed by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro that included fist bumps from Gritty and a speaker phone call with President Joe Biden.

On the stream, a steady flow of stream can seen driving over the fresh, gray gravel without incident, replacing feeds of construction workers that have become fodder for baseball games and lofi background noise.

Pennsylvania transportation secretary Mike Carroll told reporters that the highway was “completed safely” on Friday and held to “the high standards that exist for our structures across the state.”

— Beatrice Forman

President Joe Biden said he told his administration to “move heaven and earth to reopen I-95 as soon as possible” after visiting the scene of the collapsed bridge last week, according to a statement from his office.

In the statement, Biden thanked Gov. Josh Shapiro, Philly Mayor Jim Kenney, and Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) for their “great work and leadership,” as well as the crews of teamsters, engineers, and carpenters who worked “around the clock” to open the stretch of damaged interstate ahead of schedule.

“This emergency repair is 100% federally funded,” the statement continued. “We are proving that when we work together, there is nothing we cannot do.”

A statement from Sen. Bob Casey — who has yet to visit the construction site in Northeast Philly — struck a similar tone, thanking the White House and construction crews.

“This was a true team effort,” read Casey’s statement. “This rebuild was only possible because of the hard work and ingenuity of Pennsylvanians...I look forward to visiting the rebuilt bridge soon to see the results of their hard work.

Biden also touted his somewhat local connections to the area: He grew up about an hour south on I-95 in Claymont, Del., acknowledging the importance of the roadway to “people’s quality of life” and “the local economy.”

— Beatrice Forman

The reopened portions of I-95 have been “completed safely” and are “available for traffic,” Mike Carroll, Pennsylvania’s secretary of transportation, said Friday.

Workers labored through the night. Some worked up until a few minutes before state officials held a press conference about the reopening, installing guide rails on the road, Carroll said.

The partially reopened bridge was constructed with “the high standards that exist for our structures across the state,” Carroll said, and “every bit of material used to construct this facility has been rigorously tested and used in multiple applications for many years in Pennsylvania, and across the nation from Maine to Arizona.”

“This road is being opened because it’s completed, it’s safely completed, and it’s ready for traffic,” Carroll reiterated. “And I don’t think the people of Philadelphia want to wait one more minute to put a vehicle across 95.”

Next up, said Gov. Josh Shapiro, is building the rest of the bridge around the reopened lanes in a process officials have said they expect to take months, and to “keep traffic flowing while that work goes on.”

» READ MORE: How the I-95 bridge will be rebuilt

— Oona Goodin-Smith

The first to cross the reopened portion of I-95 Friday: the firefighters who first responded to the fatal blaze that led to the highway’s catastrophic collapse, and Gritty.

Led by Engine 38 of the Philadelphia Fire Department — the engine that first responded to the fire on June 11 — a cavalcade of flashing emergency and work vehicles crossed over the new portion of the bridge before it opened to the public.

Philadelphia’s beloved band of mascots — Gritty, the Phanatic, Swoop, Phang, and Franklin the Dog — joined firefighters atop one of the firetrucks as they rode across I-95, pumping their furry fists.

— Oona Goodin-Smith

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared victory Friday while standing on the temporary six-lane bridge on the damaged section of Interstate 95 — set to open 12 days after a massive, fatal blaze severed the main expressway on the East Coast and caused travel chaos.

”Over the past 12 days, the eyes of the nation have been on Pennsylvania. We show them what our grit, our determination, are all about. We showed them good government in action,” Shapiro said. “We all came together and we showed that when times get hard, Pennsylvanians show up for one another. And we show that when we work together, we can get s– done here in Pennsylvania.”

Stationed on the new lanes alongside government and union officials, Shapiro thanked all those involved in the project: President Joe Biden, Mayor Jim Kenney, and the 200 building trades members who worked around the clock through rain, heat, and Father’s Day (as shown on the I-95 livestream broadcasted in bars and Citizens Bank Park) to rebuild the portion of the severed section.

”Our unions right here in Pennsylvania built this road,” he said.

The partially re-opened section, backfilled with a recycled glass aggregate from Delaware County, opened 12 days after a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline overturned, igniting the I-95 bridge, which then collapsed. New Jersey truck driver Nathan Moody died in the blaze, and Shapiro Friday said the city and state continue to pray for his family.

Even after the sections of I-95 reopen, 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.

Still, Shapiro Friday celebrated the reopening “as a moment of civic pride for Philly and Pennsylvania.”

”Mr. Mayor, they said it couldn’t be done,” he said, turning to Kenney.

”They say a lot of things,” Kenney responded.

— Oona Goodin-Smith

On a phone call with President Joe Biden overheard by reporters, Go.v Josh Shapiro said he drove over the patched portion of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia to get to a press conference.

“This is a great example of American grit and ingenuity,” Shapiro said.

He then went on thank Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Both visited Philly during the demolition and reconstruction process.

”You were awesome,” Shapiro told Biden. “Every step of the way, you were checking in with us, flying over it.”

Mitch Landrieu, Biden’s infrastructure czar and the former mayor of New Orleans, was also on the I-95 overpass alongside Shapiro, shaking hands and thanking workers.

”Hey there, great job guys,” he said, shaking hands with a man in a bricklayers union shirt.

— Beatrice Forman and Thomas Fitzgerald

Construction crews put the finishing touches on temporary I-95 lanes in a buzzer beater moment on Friday morning, just before they open to traffic at noon.

The lanes were constructed in just 12 days to help traffic move in both directions on the interstate, and is comprised of a material made from recycled glass bottles that has been used to backfill other Philadelphia-area projects in the past.

» READ MORE: How recycled glass bottles were used to rebuild I-95

— Beatrice Forman

Everybody, from Biden administration officials to the governor of Pennsylvania on down, agreed that there’d be a months-long traffic “nightmare” following the collapse — and consequential shutdown — of a portion of I-95 in Northeast Philly.

The reality was a bit different.

The collapse of I-95 was indeed a major headache at first, an Inquirer analysis of traffic data found, with commutes across the region well and truly fouled up.

I-95 itself and every major highway in and around Philadelphia saw rapid and crushing slowdowns — from I-76 in the Northwest to all the major roads extending southeast into New Jersey. As Monday, the first weekday after the collapse, wore on, the backups got worse.

“On the first few days, people weren’t sure which alternate routes to take,” said Kyle Jackson, a data scientist with HERE Technologies, which mines traffic data from car sensors and cellphones. That was typical of disruptions to major roads, he said.

But congestion returned to nearly normal levels within just a couple of days, according to further data from HERE, with traffic leveling out on several side streets and the Tacony-Palmyra bridge by Wednesday evening

» READ MORE: Learn how did the I-95 did — and didn't — effect traffic in the Philly region

— Aseem Shukla, Kasturi Pananjady, and Thomas Fitzgerald

While I-95 is expected to reopen with six temporary lanes on Friday, there is no official timeline for the full reconstruction. Officials have said they expect it to take months.

“We will give an update on the timeline of a permanent fix after the temporary fix is done,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday.

Once I-95 is reopened over the temporary six-lane bridge, 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.

Contractors, overseen by Philadelphia-based Buckley & Co., will rebuild the collapsed bridge using the same design as when the bridge was built less than a decade ago.

Sixteen I-beams will be laid across the supporting concrete walls on either side of the Cottman Avenue exit ramp. Then an 8½-inch-thick bridge deck, made from sturdy, steel-reinforced concrete, will be placed on top, Din Abazi, chief bridge engineer for PennDot District 6, told The Inquirer.

» READ MORE: When will I-95 reopen in Philadelphia? Here’s what we know.

— Rob Tornoe

While the emergency repair efforts on Interstate 95 in Philly may have a powerful ally in that massive blow-dryer delivered by the Pocono Downs Raceway, the atmosphere tried its best to frustrate the project during the next several days.

A chance of showers is in the forecasts through the middle of next week, and when it’s not raining, meteorologists say the air is going to be nearly saturated with water vapor that could inhibit the drying process after any significant rainfall.

But the helicopter-engine drying device should be stronger than the rain, Mike Carroll, the Pennsylvania secretary of transportation, said Thursday, on a gloomy first full day of summer when a strong east wind made it feel as though the Shore had come to Philadelphia.

Carroll, a former state House member who represented the Pocono Raceway region, said that he had seen it flash-dry the asphalt surface on the NASCAR raceway any number of times and that it would work on I-95.

» READ MORE: Rains won’t push back the I-95 repair schedule, PennDot says

— Anthony R. Wood, Rob Tornoe

There’s new must-see TV in the Philadelphia region. It’s nothing streaming on Netflix, not any star-studded offering out of New York or L.A.

Instead, it’s a lot of little guys in yellow vests walking around and working heavy machinery on a construction site in Northeast Philly. There’s no high drama, no close-ups, no narration. Just action — constant, steady, sure. Almost hypnotic. And we can’t seem to look away.

It’s the I-95 reconstruction cam. At lunchtime Tuesday, the first workday after a long weekend, 3,000 viewers were on the state site.

» READ MORE: The I-95 live cam is the sleeper hit of the season

— Rita Giordano

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.

» READ MORE: Temporary lanes on I-95 will reopen Friday at noon, Shapiro says

— Robert Moran