"I think it's remarkable": Businesses pick back up as I-95 reopens
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Traffic is flowing on I-95. The highway has now been reopened after a 12-day closure but it could've been much longer.
Officials Friday credited everyone involved for getting this project done quickly and safely.
Engine 38 led the parade over the now reopened portion of I-95 in northeast Philadelphia. This group of firefighters helped to bring the highway closure full circle. Some of the first emergency crews on scene are now the first to cross the new bridge.
"We showed that when we work together, we can get [expletive] done here in Pennsylvania," Governor Josh Shapiro said.
Friday's opening completes what some people thought was an impossible goal, reopening the major highway less than two weeks after the deadly collapse. Shapiro called it a statement from the city and state, to the rest of the nation.
"Today, all of us here together, proved them wrong," Shapiro said.
The highway was shut down in Northeast Philadelphia on June 11 after a tanker truck overturned and caught fire, causing a partial collapse of the overpass. And amid the reopening celebration, Shapiro took time to remember Nathan Moody, the truck driver killed in the crash.
"And to let his family know that we are continuing as a city and a commonwealth to pray for them," Shapiro said.
Crews worked around the clock, tearing down what was left of the old bridge, backfilling the underpass and paving over top to open six temporary lanes of traffic. Workers are proud of the job they did here.
"This was something different for me to even step into this kind of platform. But I'm just grateful to be around such good people, strong women, actually teaching me. I'm learning from them," one worker said.
PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll also asks drivers to slow down while driving over the new roadway which has a posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour, with lanes that are more narrow than normal and no shoulder.
Businesses in the area of Northeast Philly are thankful to see more people coming through the door following the opening of the temporary lanes on I-95.
From a near empty bar to a now busy Friday night, employees at Sharkey's Grill & Ale House on State Road say business is nearly back to normal after the I-95 closure.
"This is a normal Friday for us, actually it'd be a little bit busier, but for the past two weeks it's been like four, or five, six people at the bar," bartender Erin Szelagowski said.
Customers like Bud Cleary say he's been impressed with how quickly the highway opened back up.
"The fact that the day after this collapse they said it would take six months and 12 days later we're back in business," Cleary said. "I think it's remarkable."
But because of that ramped-up timeline, some say they won't be driving over the new lanes.
"I'm going to let it work out for a little while before I travel on it, just in case," Szelagowski said.
Further down on State Road, Curran's Irish Inn says they're slowly seeing more customers come in like Dennis Gannon who's planning to travel on the new lanes soon.
"100% safe. Yeah, I don't have any issues with it," Gannon said.
We drove over both the newly opened south and northbound lanes Friday evening. And aside from the wet weather, it was a smooth ride each way.
"I've been really impressed with how the whole thing has been handled from the highest people in the state all the way down to the patrol officers here in the city," Gannon said.
Many we spoke to say the newly opened lanes are also helping lighten up traffic around these detour streets like on State Road.
Now, the crews are also looking forward to some much needed and well earned rest.
"We can go home and get sleep," one worker said. "We can go home and rest and be with our families."
Given the speed of the project, there have been questions about whether that pace could make the bridge unsafe.
Carroll also stressed that all the materials used in the build have been tested and this was built to the department's highest standards. He says everyone should feel safe going over the bridge.
Now work begins on the permanent bridge.
