A section of the busy I-95 highway has collapsed in Philadelphia following a major fire at the weekend. Reports suggest that a truck carrying fuel crashed at 6.10am on Sunday morning, 11th June. The impact spilled around 32,000litres of fuel which then caught fire, eventually causing a Northbound stretch of the I-95 flyover to collapse. The Southbound stretch meanwhile has been compromised structurally and is unable to carry traffic. The local fire department was quickly on scene and managed to control the blaze. Luckily it seems so far that nobody has been hurt although rescuers are still searching the rubble.
Massive traffic congestion is now being seen across Philadelphia. The I-95 route is one of the busiest and most important in the US and carries a high percentage of heavy trucks. Just long how the diversions will remain in place remains to be seen. A previous interstate fire in Atlanta in 2017 led to nearly two months of delays. And when a fire damaged a section of I-95 in 1996, the traffic delays lasted for up to six months.
Demolition machines are already on hand removing part of the collapsed road deck. But how long it will take to replace the damaged section is not known at this stage.
