A truck fire burning under an I-95 on-ramp has caused a part of the roadway to collapse and the highway to be closed to traffic by officials early Sunday.
NBC’s Randy Gyllenhaal reported that officials on scene said they’re investigating after the northbound side on I-95 collapsed before 8 a.m. and the southbound side is “compromised.”
Gyllenhaal said that officials told him, “the roadway is gone.”
Wow!! Monday mornings rush hour is gonna be EPIC!! The affirmative action guy said to use Roosevelt Ave. instead of I-95. When I drove big trucks Roosevelt Ave. was my go-to during the morning rush hour. It was a nightmare then but still better than I-95 and that was twenty years ago. Good luck…
Was the road in good working condition thanks to Obama’s $831 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?
No? Well, maybe it was Clinton’s $217 billion transportation bill.
No? Well, maybe it was W’s $286 billion transportation bill.
No? Well, certainly Biden’s $1 TRILLION (*bipartisan lolol) infrastructure bill will fix this mess once and for all.
*eye roll*
Oh wait! The inflation reduction package will prolly fix it, yea that’s it.
Nothing to see here people all part of the plan, just move along….
Interesting. We’ve driven through PA a bunch of times and since the 1970’s the unions have been working on the highways with no end in sight to that cash cow job.
Looks like they’ll have work for another 50 yrs.
Shovel ready!
Not so much shovel ready as jackhammer and excavator ready.
Perhaps not so much a dry run as a proof-of-concept run at our infrastructure?
Concrete has no tensile strength. Once the steel yields, it’s coming down unless it is otherwise supported like in a roman arch.
The fire had to burn long enough and strong enough for sufficient heat to penetrate to the steel in the bottom. The concrete cover in the bottom there is protect against corrosion and heat.
So, bottom line: a little fire can take down a badly designed/built U.S. freeway. How reassuring.
heh! Gov DeSantis rebuilt the bridge to Pine Island in 3 days after hurricane Ian……..
Wonder how long it would take him to clear and rebuild this mess????? We’ll never know.
They are lucky in one aspect – There are multiple alternatives to get around Philly VIA expressway…295, NJ Turnpike, 276 to 476.
For the local commuters? Well, that’s another story.
Come on, JD. Everyone knows fire can’t melt steel like that. just ask Rosie!
@ General Malaise AT 1:29 PM
No, but a LOT of fire can. Concrete is a very effective insulator, but long enough and hot enough and it’s coming down. I’d have to examine the design and maintenance records to form an informed opinion on this one. My suspicions are the latter was deficient, but it just may be that the fire was too intense for too long on this one.
Look at the video of the fire.
If that truly was a fuel truck there is ample energy stored there to maintain a furnace like environment for enough time to weaken the steel to the point the weight of all that concrete and steel yields the point under highest stress. After that the cascade effect takes over and the next weakest point yields to a higher stress since the first point gave up, and so on…
It’s like a TUG-OF-WAR. Once the anchor guy starts sliding the whole crew gets pulled over the line.
Wait until this bridge collapses. It’s been held together with patches for the last 30 years. This last “project” was just another layer of patches:
https://wrallp.com/our-work/i-695-i-70-interchange-triple-bridges-project
This is where thousands of trucks head west from many of the ports around Baltimore. There is nowhere else for drivers to go.
I only pity the people trying to get out of the Big Philthy!
The 9/11 Truthers will tell you that no way did fire bring down that bridge. 🙂