Those traveling in and around Philadelphia are feeling the effects of last weekend’s I-95 overpass collapse.
A fuel tanker involved in a fiery collision under the overpass caused the collapse after the tanker burned for about an hour.
UD Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Michael Chajes says the steel structure of the overpass was no match for the high heat of the fire.
“This would have happened to any bridge, whether it was older or newer. Steel at temperatures beyond 1000 degrees Fahrenheit are just going to start to weaken,” he explained.
Given the conditions, the collapse was unavoidable from a structural standpoint. The section that collapsed was worked on just 4 years ago.
But Chajes adds there are some possible ways to keep this from happening again.
“I would think we'd have less of a risk if we had autonomous vehicles. If the tanker was autonomous, it would probably have the occasional problem. But, I bet the odds of it having that problem frequently under a bridge would be so close to zero, so we might eliminate these things altogether,” explained Chajes. “So, if every tanker truck had to be an autonomous system or some protective system, maybe that would be worth spending a little money on to avoid this kind of problem.”
While this may not be a quick solution, Chajes says avoiding collisions altogether, or having systems in place to extinguish fires faster, could help avoid these disasters.
And despite the I-95 collapse not being caused by anything related to the overpass’ construction, Chajes says it’s still important to replace and repair aging infrastructure on an ongoing basis.
Repairs on the I-95 collapse will take approximately 3 months, comparable to the time it took for I-495 in Delaware to get back up and running following structural issues in 2014.
While accessing materials remains an issue due to ongoing shortages, construction is able to get underway immediately thanks to other projects lending their materials.
