Crews are scheduled to work through the night early Wednesday on the demolition of an adjacent bridge carrying Interstate 95 that was compromised in a gas truck fire as officials prepare to release plans for restoring service on the key East Coast artery.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania finalizing plan to reopen I-95 after bridge collapse
A northbound bridge collapsed Sunday after a Penn Tank Lines gasoline truck rolled over and caught fire beneath it, officials said. The southbound span subsequently was found to be unsafe and is being knocked down.
The crash and fire are under investigation, and experts said the flames would have weakened the steel holding up the bridges. The fire crippled a stretch of highway that carries 160,000 vehicles daily, leaving thousands of trucks facing months of lengthy detours and creating headaches for commuters in Northeast Philadelphia.
After touring the scene Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described the burn marks and twisted metal. He noted the potential economic effects of the collapse and said the federal government would help Pennsylvania rebuild quickly and safely.
“What a lot of people don’t always see behind those inflation numbers is the importance of our supply chains,” Buttigieg said. “If a route is disrupted or if its longer or if trucks have to wait, that finds its way into the cost of goods.”
Pennsylvania State Police said Monday they recovered a body from the wreckage and that authorities have no indication it was anyone other than the truck driver. Family identified the driver as Nathan Moody, 53. Penn Tank Lines did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Family members of Moody said they are distraught over his death. Alex Moody, an older cousin who grew up with him in Philadelphia, said the death is one of several in the family in recent years.
He said he broke down into tears, saddened to lose his “baby cousin.” He said his cousin had a wife and three children, one who was 7 years old.
“One minute, you see a person, then the next minute, you don’t see them,” he said.
Alex Moody said his cousin was the family’s Dudley Do-Right, a reference to the character from a segment on “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.” He was the voice of reason among family, always there to keep cousins out of trouble, help them find a job or help pay rent if needed, he said.
Two decades ago, Nathan Moody sat his cousin down to encourage him to stay away from drugs.
“That leaves an imprint on your heart,” Alex Moody said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and bridge collapse. The board plans to issue preliminary findings within a few weeks, but a final report detailing the cause of the collapse likely won’t be available for a year.
The bridge was constructed in 2016 and was rated in good condition. Experts said that publicly available evidence indicates the heat of the fire is to blame for the collapse, rather than any issue with the bridge. As steel reaches high temperatures, its ability to hold a load decreases and the span likely fell under its own weight, experts said.
Philadelphia officials have arranged detours around the collapsed bridge and are encouraging commuters to use public transit while work on the highway continues, running extra train service and making free parking available. Ridership on three regional Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority rail lines was up about 12 percent Monday compared with the previous week, agency spokesman Andrew Busch said.
The state transportation department is turning its attention to the rebuilding effort, which could take months.
Carroll said a construction contractor was working on another project along the interstate and was pulled in to start the demolition work. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) signed an emergency declaration Monday allowing officials to bypass normal contracting rules to speed the work.
The declaration made $7 million in state funds available. Buttigieg said Pennsylvania will be able to tap emergency federal money and other financial aid.
“There’s no substitute for I-95 being up and running in full working condition and that’s the goal that everybody’s moving toward here,” he said.
The collapse is the nation’s third major transportation incident this year, following the failure of an Federal Aviation Administration information system in January and the derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals in February.
Buttigieg was criticized by Republican lawmakers for waiting several weeks before visiting the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio. Asked Tuesday why he had come to Philadelphia much sooner, he said visiting the active scene in Ohio marked a break in precedent for transportation secretaries, but that he saw the value in being there in person.
“Part of what I found was important — especially when you saw all of the politicization and misinformation that the people of East Palestine had to deal with — is that we’re just in a new world in terms of the importance of presence to help make sure everybody understands what is happening,” Buttigieg said.
Tanker fires have caused bridge collapses in the past, but such incidents are rare and experts said it would be expensive to fireproof the nation’s existing spans.