Philadelphia I-95 highway collapse snarls morning commute

Philadelphia motorists endured long, frustrating commutes along clogged roadways on Monday morning, a day after a tanker truck fire caused an overpass on a major highway to collapse, forcing the closure of one of the U.S. East Coast's busiest routes.

A section of Interstate 95 was closed in both directions in Philadelphia after the truck carrying gasoline caught fire on Sunday for reasons that were not yet clear. No deaths or injuries had been reported by late Sunday.

Early on Monday morning, local traffic reporters said bumper-to-bumper traffic was spotted near the collapse and along alternate routes, but it appeared that some commuters heeded the warnings to take public transportation or stay home.

"Things are obviously getting worse moving into the heart of rush hour," KYW News Radio traffic reporter Justin Drabick said during his report a little after 8 a.m. EST (1200 GMT).

He noted that Mondays were typically a light traffic day. "Tomorrow is really going to be the true test."

Officials said it would take several months to rebuild the stretch of I-95. It is the main north-south highway along the East Coast, running from Miami to the Canadian border in Maine.

"We're all going to need some extra patience in the coming days," Leslie Richards, chief executive officer of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates public transport in the Philadelphia area, said at a Sunday news conference.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro urged residents to look for alternate routes, to take commuter trains or to work from home if possible.

The governor said he would make a disaster declaration on Monday, freeing up federal funds to help in the rebuild of a stretch of highway along which 160,000 vehicles pass daily.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it had sent a team to investigate.

Andy Herrmann, a past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said bridges are not designed to withstand the heat from a tanker truck fire, which could be upward of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,090 C), and that such incidents were not common.

Herrmann said Sunday's collapse might prompt discussion about changing bridge design requirements, but it was difficult to see how the U.S. could afford to upgrade the many overpasses in the country.

"I mean, they're looking to maintain the basic safety of the bridges due to deterioration," he said.