I-95 Demolition Complete, Temporary Highway Rendering Released

PHILADELPHIA — Demolition of the damaged section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia has concluded, and crews are ahead of schedule.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and PennDOT announced the early completion of the demolition Friday morning.

Now, crews will begin constructing a temporary highway to resume the flow of people and goods on the busy highway.

Delaware County-based Aero Aggregates of North America is proving a lightweight, rock-like material made from recycled glass to serve as backfill.

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Philadelphia-based Buckley & Company will begin to fill in the damaged area in order to rebuild the new section of road on top.

Crews will construct a temporary six lane road, with I-95 north and south getting three lanes each.

On Wednesday, Shapiro detailed the plan to rebuild I-95 in a safe and efficient manner – including the critical goal of completing the demolition ahead of schedule.

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Under Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll’s leadership, demolition has been completed well in advance of initial projections as crews work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A timeline for opening the temporary highway is still unclear.

Building the temporary road will allow traffic to resume while engineers and contractors work on the permanent fix, which will replace the collapsed bridge with a new bridge.