All construction, all the time!
Pennsylvania officials have launched a 24/7 livestream of the I-95 overpass reconstruction efforts following the busy highway’s fiery collapse in northeast Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation put up the video stream on Thursday morning, showing off the crews, cranes and trucks on the ground clearing the debris after a tanker explosion burned down a northbound overpass and destabilized the opposite southbound lanes.
“To chart our progress and give everyone a sense of timing, we’re launching our 24/7 livestream where you can watch I-95 get rebuilt,” Gov. Josh Shapiro tweeted. “Government is working for the good people of Pennsylvania.”
There is currently one camera set up overlooking the work on the Milnor Street ramp, with other angles of the construction expected to be up and running.
It comes as officials estimated that the demolition of the damaged lanes should be completed on Thursday, speeding up the reconstruction plans.
Shapiro has said the construction crews from the Philly-based Buckley & Company plan to work 24 hours a day on repairing the roadway and eventually reopening north- and southbound lanes.
The governor, however, still gave no timeline for when the massive project will be completed.
Philly drivers are contending with nightmarish traffic following Sunday morning’s catastrophe, when a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gas flipped on a northbound off-ramp curve near the Cottman Avenue exit, triggering a fiery explosion.
The remains of 53-year-old driver Nathaniel Moody, who was scheduled to deliver fuel to a local Wawa station, were later pulled from the cab of the truck.
Shapiro has issued a disaster declaration over the collapse in order to speed up the construction and funding needed to restore the road, which typically saw 160,000 vehicles travel through it a day.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) told reporters Monday that it was vital to restore the destroyed section of the highway as quickly as possible.
“This is a critical roadway not just for northeast Philadelphia, not just for the Philadelphia area, but for the entire mid-Atlantic,” he said.“I-95 stretches from Maine to Miami.
“I dare you to find a more densely populated 40- to 50-mile area around I-95 than right here where we’re standing. People are going to be impacted from New York City to well south of here.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash.
