On an early spring evening nearly two decades ago, a similar scene unfolded on the same interstate in Bridgeport after a sedan struck a Mack tanker, igniting an explosion that halted traffic along one of the country’s most traveled highways. Though no one was seriously injured, the ensuing blaze burned through about 8,000 gallons of home heating oil and melted an elevated section of the roadway near Exit 26, forcing crews to redirect tens of thousands of vehicles through city streets. Traffic came to a standstill on I-95 in north Philadelphia on June 11 after a gasoline truck overturned beneath an overpass and caught fire, killing the driver and causing the northbound section of the bridge to collapse. In Bridgeport, contractors managed to install an erector set-like structure to replace the road’s damaged southbound lanes in just six days — a feat Appleby credited to close collaboration between city, state and federal officials. The U.S. Department of Transportation allocated more than $13 million for the repairs.
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