Portion Of I-95 Collapsed In Philly

It occurred between exits 30 and 32 on Sunday morning. Lanes in both directions are closed indefinitely, as the damage is extensive. A fuel tanker carrying gasoline caught fire underneath a raised portion of the highway causing the southbound roadway to collapse. The northbound side is being reported as structurally compromised. No time table is reported for when the section of highway will be reopened. Initial reports state officials expect the closure to last for several months as the highway is repaired. Expect significant delays in and around Philly over the next few months, even beyond.

As reported it seems the driver took an exit to fast and rolled over. The remains have not been positively identified, but are believed to be the driver.

Excerpt from another article below:

The tanker truck, carrying 8,500 of gasoline, attempted to navigate a left-hand turn after exiting at the Cottman Avenue offramp of I-95, according to officials. Losing control through its turn, the tanker fell on its side and ruptured its own tank, according to Carroll. Once ignited, the fuel burned at a high enough heat to structurally compromise the concrete and steel I-beans of the overpass.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Nathaniel Moody. Condolences to his family.

Heard about this and was wondering what happened to the driver-so sad.

Man, there are some aspects of this job I just don't tell the wife, but incidents like this do stay in the back of my mind. It's a good reminder that no matter how badly I annoy drivers behind me, there's a reason I don't go barreling down off ramps or interchanges.

The latest I read on the news was a body has been found but not identified. Liquid tankers require a greater amount of training and patience to handle the "slosh" that occurs even with baffles if equipped. I am sorry for his family and the traffic headaches that this will cause over the coming months.

This is going to create a lot of travel problems this summer on the Northeast Corridor. Anything moving from DC to NY/NJ is going to be a huge PITA made worse by families traveling for the summer.

Being somewhat local to that area, it's a huge topic of discussion.

I came across this video

It's a video of the accident and it looks like driver was speeding.

Being somewhat local to that area, it's a huge topic of discussion.

I came across this video

It's a video of the accident and it looks like driver was speeding.

Yeah, I saw the video and the fireball. It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals.

Could he have lost his brakes going down the ramp?

Overheating brakes is unlikely, maybe mechanical failure.

There's a bunch of possibilities. Everything from complacency to a quick maneuver to avoid missing the exit, to rushing to get more loads in.

I don't think we'll ever know what happened here.

Banks, you are probably correct about the difficulty with determining the cause. I imagine the truck wreckage was mostly a melted lump of steel from a fire that intense.