On Wednesday, officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced that a temporary road will be built atop backfill to bridge the gap of the collapsed portion of Interstate 95.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said that the temporary road is the fastest approach to get I-95 safely reopened. Recycled glass aggregate will be shipped to the site under police escort to fill the area that had been spanned by a pair of bridges. Permanent bridges will be constructed later.
“I want to get this road reopened as quickly as possible,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro did not give a timeframe of when the temporary or permanent roads would reopen. The governor said the public will be able to watch progress on a live camera feed which you can watch here.
“When y’all are sleeping in the middle of the night, when I’m sleeping in the middle of night, these guys are going to be working on this road,” Shapiro said of the crews working at the site.
The cost of the project is still being calculated.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released $3 million inemergency funds, officials announced Wednesday, while an emergency declaration Shapiro signed Monday made $7 million in state funds available.
Before the collapse, I-95 was structurally sound and met current standards, Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said during the news conference Wednesday.
“The bridge was only 10 years old,” Carroll said.
-------------------------------------------------
Source: MSN, The Washington Post
