PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The collapsed stretch of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia will reopen within two weeks, Pennsylvania's governor said Saturday, after joining President Joe Biden on a helicopter tour over the critical stretch of highway closed to East Coast traffic since last weekend.
“We are getting it done here in Philly,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a briefing at Philadelphia International Airport after the flyover that included members of Congress and the city's mayor.
Biden said “there is no more important project” going on right now, as far as he was concerned. “We're with you. We're going to stay with you” until the work is “totally finished.”
Shapiro, offering a timeline that would be welcome news to commuters and long-haul truckers alike, said with Biden at his side: “I can state with confidence that we will have I-95 reopened within the next two weeks. We are going to get traffic moving again thanks to the extraordinary work that is going on here.”
He said “folks here in Philly have a real renewed sense of civic pride through this project” and that “there's something special happening in our community” with people coming together.
The stretch of the East Coast’s main north-south highway collapsed early last Sunday after a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline flipped over on an off-ramp and caught fire. State transportation officials said the driver was trying to navigate a curve and lost control.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the area Tuesday, promised that the federal government would provide the needed assistance to repair the destruction, although he warned that the wreckage will likely raise the cost of consumer goods in the short term because truckers must now travel longer routes.
Joining Biden on the presidential Marine One helicopter were Shapiro, Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Rep. Brendan Boyle and Mayor Jim Kenney, all Democrats. Later Saturday, Biden was to attend a 2024 campaign event with union workers at the convention center.
