An elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed early Sunday in Philadelphia after a tanker truck carrying a petroleum product caught fire, closing a heavily traveled segment of the East Coast's main north-south highway indefinitely, authorities said.
Transportation officials warned of extensive delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area in the northeast corner of the city. Officials said the tanker may have been hauling hundreds of gallons of gasoline. The fire was reported to be under control.
Some kind of crash happened on a ramp underneath northbound I-95 around 6:15 a.m. The northbound section above the fire collapsed quickly, state Transportation Department spokesman Brad Rudolph said. “It was crazy timing,” Fusetti said. “For it to buckle and collapse that quickly, it’s pretty remarkable.”
Motorists were sent on a 43-mile detour, which was going “better than it would do on a weekday," Rudolph said. The fact that the collapse happened on a Sunday helped ease congestion.Most drivers traveling the I-95 corridor between Delaware and New York City use the New Jersey Turnpike rather than the segment of interstate where the collapse occurred. Until 2018, drivers did not have a direct highway connection between I-95 in Pennsylvania and I-95 in New Jersey.
Thousands of tons of steel and concrete were piled atop the site of the fire, he said, and heavy construction equipment would be required to start to remove the debris.
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