Emergency repairs and permanent replacement of the I-95 bridge collapse
Philadelphia
Merit Award
Sent by: bless
Owner: PennDOT
Main design: bless
General contractor: Buckley & Co.
A temporary welded wire retaining wall system helped restore traffic 12 days after an 8,500 gasoline tanker crash killed the driver and destroyed the northbound Interstate 95 bridge. The system that reopened this critical transport link, which carries 160,000 vehicles a day, included geogrid supports filled with ultralight foamed glass aggregate and prefabricated barriers. The final replacement was completed less than a year later. Half-width construction of the permanent bridge within the existing footprint accelerated construction in just two stages. First, the team constructed the outer half of the permanent bridge replacement at each boundary, outside the working temporary roadway. The team then shifted traffic to the outside of the permanent replacement bridge, removed the temporary roadway, and built the inside half of the permanent replacement bridge in its place.
These phases maintained three lanes of traffic in each direction, providing 75% of the interstate’s capacity during construction. The $23.7 million, 23-month project ended up under budget and ahead of schedule.
