Traffic snarled as workers begin removing I-95 overpass scorched in Connecticut tanker truck inferno – Boston News, Weather, Sports

On May 5, 2024By Vaseline

Work crews began demolishing a bridge damaged by a fiery crash that left Connecticut’s Interstate 95 closed for a second day Friday, as motorists’ nerves continued to fray during hours of traffic jams on and around the main artery linking New England and New York connected together.

“It’s crazy,” said Marco Ortiz, a tattoo artist at Javier Eastman Tattoo Studios in Norwalk on Connecticut Avenue, one of the bumper-to-bumper detours. “I’ve seen people beeping, trying to shut down other people, pulling faces and making hand gestures. It is not good. You have to have patience. What else can we do? It was a very serious accident.”

The highway remained closed in both directions following the three-vehicle wreck Thursday morning, which left a gasoline tanker engulfed in flames that engulfed the Fairfield Avenue overpass above I-95 in Norwalk and damaged the structure.

Governor Ned Lamont said plans to reopen all six lanes before rush hour Monday morning appeared to be on schedule.

“And here we are over 24 hours later, that bridge is going to be broken very soon,” Lamont said at a news conference in Norwalk on Friday. “The scissors are coming to lift the last piece of this. Put the asphalt back in place. And hopefully… we’ll get I-95 in both directions on Monday.”

About 160,000 vehicles travel in both directions on that stretch of I-95 daily, officials said. Detours on local roads left some motorists driving for an hour or more through the area, while others sought alternate routes away from the scene.

John Blair, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, said the trucking industry group has been working with state police and the DOT to inform truck drivers in the Northeast about safe alternate routes, including I-84.

He said there have been problems over the past 24 hours with tractor-trailer drivers who don’t know Connecticut well, hitting low bridges or downing power lines on local roads while trying to drive around the closure. State police said they were aware of only one incident involving a commercial vehicle hitting a bridge overpass in New Canaan on the Merritt Parkway, where tractor trailers are prohibited due to the low bridge height.

Blair said his group has been trying to get long-haul truckers to avoid that part of the state.

“We’re pushing them north as best we can,” Blair said. “We’re trying to catch them before they get to Connecticut and make sure they avoid 95 completely.”

Workers began demolishing the bridge Friday morning using excavators — one on each side of the highway — armed with jackhammers. Bucket loaders cleared the debris that fell onto the highway below and dumped it into containers that were carted away by trucks.

The shears Lamont was talking about are special heavy equipment that will be used starting Saturday morning to cut the bridge’s metal support components, officials said. That should take about 24 hours, and then the damaged portions of the highway will be repaired through milling and repaving, according to state Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto.

The accident happened around 5:30 a.m. on the south side of the highway.

State police said a car was moving from the right lane when it struck the gasoline truck, which was carrying 32,000 gallons of fuel. The truck then crashed into a tractor-trailer in another lane and burst into flames. No one was seriously injured and no charges have been filed.

On Friday afternoon, the Department of Transportation said travel time was nearly 90 minutes for the 16 miles from the New York border to Route 7 in Norwalk at I-95 north.

Jillian Mauro, a press aide for the Connecticut House Republicans, said she noticed many more tractor-trailers along I-84 during her commute from Danbury to Hartford, as well as fender benders in stop-and-go traffic.

“There’s definitely a steady parade of trucks,” said Mauro, whose drive to the Capitol on Friday took 90 minutes instead of the usual hour.

Removing the bridge and repairing the roads could cost about $20 million, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. He and other members of the state’s congressional delegation sent a letter asking the Federal Highway Administration for emergency funds to pay for all costs. Lamont has declared a state of emergency, which could speed up funding.

“A rapid reopening of I-95 is extremely critical to keeping auto and truck traffic flowing through New England,” the delegation wrote in a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

The Merritt Parkway, which is open only to passenger vehicles, experienced delays for more than 13 miles Friday morning, the letter said, while trucks and other commercial vehicles have been forced to take “much longer alternate routes.”

The accident was reminiscent of a fatal crash last year in Philadelphia, when a tractor-trailer carrying gasoline along I-95 lost control and caught fire, destroying part of the highway.

Thursday’s crash also came just over a year after a fatal accident on I-95 in Connecticut in April 2023, when a fuel truck caught fire after colliding with a stationary car on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between New London and Groton .

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Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.