I-95 collapses in Philadelphia after fire; motorists headed north from Maryland advised to plan alternate routes

Motorists can expect delays as both directions of Interstate 95 are shut down after a roadway collapsed during a vehicle fire in northeast Philadelphia on Sunday morning. The delays on the East Coast’s primary north-south highway could affect travel to and from Maryland for days.

A truck caught fire around 6:20 a.m. underneath a northbound overpass for the Cottman Avenue exit, causing it to collapse. Fire officials are investigating the cause of the fire and whether the vehicle was a tanker truck.

All lanes in both directions of I-95 are closed between the Woodhaven and Aramingo exits. The collapse occurred in the northbound span of the interstate. The southbound span is compromised, officials said.

The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management said other streets were closed for the response and urged people to avoid the area.

Officials said there were no immediate reports of injuries. The fire was reported to be under control.

The Maryland Department of Emergency Management said the incident could impact travel in the state.

“While this took place outside of Maryland, it could impact your travel if you are headed toward the Philadelphia area or planning to use I95. Stay safe,” the agency tweeted.

Debris is seen at the collapsed portion of I-95 in Philadelphia, on Sunday. A truck fire and partial road collapse have closed Interstate 95 in both directions in Northeast Philadelphia. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) (Monica Herndon/AP)

The Maryland State Highway Administration advised motorists traveling north to plan alternate routes.

A crash of some kind occurred on a ramp underneath northbound I-95 around 6:15 a.m. The northbound section above the fire collapsed quickly, state Transportation Department spokesperson Brad Rudolph said.

Video from the scene showed a massive concrete slab had fallen from I-95 onto the road below.

A column of black smoke was on the southbound span of the interstate, emergency services said in a tweet. Fuel runoff from gas lines or from the accident caused underground explosions that shot flames up from maintenance holes, Derek Bowmer, a battalion chief with the Philadelphia Fire Department, said at a news conference.

“The roadway is gone,” said Dominick Mireles, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, at a news conference.

Officials work on the scene following a collapse on I-95 after a truck fire on Sunday in Philadelphia. (Joe Lamberti/AP)

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The southbound lanes were heavily damaged, “and we are assessing that now,” Rudolph said Sunday afternoon.

There was no immediate time frame for reopening the highway, but Rudolph said officials would consider “a fill-in situation or a temporary structure” to accelerate the effort.

Motorists were sent on a 43-mile detour, which was going “better than it would do on a weekday,” Rudolph said. The fact that the collapse happened on a Sunday helped ease congestion.

He expected traffic “to back up significantly on all the detour areas.”

This screen grab from video provided by WPVI-TV/6ABC shows the collapsed section of I-95 with firetrucks on the scene in Philadelphia on Sunday. (Uncredited/AP)

Most drivers traveling the I-95 corridor between Delaware and New York City use the New Jersey Turnpike rather than the segment of interstate where the collapse occurred.

Thousands of tons of steel and concrete were piled atop the site of the fire, and heavy construction equipment will need to be transported to the area to start removing the debris, Mireles said. Officials said they were also concerned about the environmental impacts of runoff into the nearby Delaware River.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.