U.S. Infrastructure: I-95 Shut in Philadelphia After `Severe Damage' Found

A section of Interstate 95, the busiest highway on the East Coast, was closed in Philadelphia because of ``severe damage'' to a steel-reinforced concrete supporting column, state officials said.

The 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) stretch was shut shortly before midnight local time yesterday. An engineer inspecting the 15- foot-high column saw that a half-inch crack discovered in October had widened to as much as 5 inches, Pennsylvania Transportation Department spokesman Gene Blaum said.

Cities and states throughout the U.S. have been rushing to inspect and repair elevated highways and bridges since a span of I-35 across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed in August, killing 13 people.

New York Democratic senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, speaking today in Philadelphia, said I-95 was ``closed because of our failure to deal with our infrastructure, something that is long overdue.''

``This is yet another wake-up call following the collapse of levees in New Orleans and the bridge in Minneapolis,'' Clinton said in a televised news conference.

I-95 will be shut between the Allegheny Avenue and Girard Avenue exits while four steel support towers are built. They will allow the damaged column to be repaired while the road is open, Blaum said in a telephone interview. About 180,000 vehicles a day travel on that part of the interstate, the main route from Florida to Maine.

Hopes for Reopening

The state seeks to reopen the highway by tomorrow night at the earliest, PennDOT Secretary Alan Biehler said in a televised press conference from the site of the damage.

Northbound traffic is being forced to exit the highway at Girard Avenue, while southbound traffic must get off at the Betsy Ross Bridge/Aramingo Avenue exit, Blaum said. Trucks are being detoured over other area highways, including I-76, I-676 and the Roosevelt Boulevard.

Some motorists appear to be taking alternate routes or using mass transit, Blaum said.

``The delays really could have been worse,'' said Charlie Weirauch of Westwood One Inc.'s Metro Networks traffic service. ``Side streets are a mess. It's pretty much gridlock.''

The column helps support an elevated section of I-95 that runs over the city's Port Richmond section, and was being inspected in advance of a structural-repair project when the engineer discovered the growth in the crack, Blaum said.

Weeks for Repairs

It will take at least three weeks and cost at least $250,000 to make the repairs, Blaum said. The part of I-95 where the damage was discovered was built in the 1960s and is scheduled to undergo a complete reconstruction starting in about five years, PennDOT said in a statement.

``It's directly underneath a deck joint that's been leaking water for years, and de-icing salts can have a very damaging effect on concrete material, especially over decades,'' said Chuck Davies, PennDOT's assistant district executive for design. ``Deterioration of this type is what we see on bridges.''

The department has inspected similar columns on other parts of I-95 ``and nothing else has been detected,'' Blaum said. ``But obviously we're going to look at the whole highway.''

The shutdown is in the same area of the interstate that was closed for more than a week in March 1996 by a tire fire set by arsonists beneath the highway.

States Handle Repairs

States are responsible for maintaining and repairing their portions of interstates, and the U.S. Transportation Department has no plans to undertake a broader examination of I-95 in the wake of the shutdown, said Ian Grossman, spokesman for the department's Federal Highway Administration division.

``The fact that they identified the issue and are taking the steps to correct it and protect the public, this is what states do all the time,'' Grossman said in a telephone interview. ``It's a routine activity. Stopping traffic on a major interstate raises the profile, but the fact that they've identified detours and are speeding up their schedule to conduct the appropriate maintenance shows they are on top of it and the program works.''

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell last month proposed spending $200 million in the next fiscal year to repair 1,000 of Pennsylvania's more than 6,000 structurally deficient bridges. Today, the governor said it may take as much as $6 billion for the reconstruction of I-95 in Philadelphia alone.