Pennsylvania governor announces I-95 will reopen this weekend 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced Tuesday that Interstate 95 will reopen in Philadelphia this weekend, about two weeks after a portion of the highway collapsed.

“Based on the tremendous progress these crews made over the weekend and the time it takes to complete the remaining steps, I can now say that we will have I-95 back open this weekend,” Shapiro said in a statement.

“We have worked around the clock to get this done, and we’ve completed each phase safely and ahead of schedule,” he added. “That’s all due to the incredible coordination with our local, state, and federal partners — and thanks to the hard-working men and women of the Philadelphia Building Trades who are making this happen.”

Earlier this month, the driver of a tractor-trailer carrying gasoline lost control of the vehicle, prompting it to flip and catch fire underneath an I-95 overpass in Philadelphia. The northbound lanes of the roadway collapsed, and the southbound lanes were left so severely compromised that they also had to be demolished.

The collapse of the highway and its subsequent closure created traffic headaches for commuters in the area, who were redirected to detours. Shapiro said last week that crews would work around the clock to ensure I-95 would reopen as quickly as possible. His Tuesday press release stated that the reopening this weekend will be well ahead of the projected two-week timeline.

Demolition work on the impacted stretch of the highway took only four days last week, the governor noted in the release. Construction crews also began bridging the gap in the interstate last week, opting to fill in the area under the overpass with “light-weight foamed glass aggregate” instead of directly rebuilding the structure.

The release says crews will begin paving three new lanes in both directions of the highway this week ahead of the expected reopening this weekend.

President Biden visited the site of the collapsed portion of the highway last week, calling fixing it the most “‘important project to the country right now.” The Biden administration also pledged federal support to aid in the rebuilding of the highway.