The collapse of an elevated section of I-95 near Philadelphia, which came after a tanker truck caught fire beneath it on Sunday, has highlighted the critical role of the nation’s 66-year-old interstate system for commuters and businesses, experts said.
I-95 is the East Coast’s main artery, stretching from Maine to Florida – and the impacted area handles more than 160,000 vehicles a day. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said it could take months to rebuild — a period expected to bring commuter headaches and economic losses that occur with traffic snarls and freight delays in such major interstate closures.
But it’s just one part of a nationwide network that has both fueled U.S. growth over decades and faced mounting congestion and a backlog of needed upgrades, said Rocky Moretti, Director of Policy and Research for TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit.
“What we’re seeing is how critical the interstate system is,” he said.
How was the Interstate Highway System created?
President Eisenhower signed the system into law June 29, 1956. That came after a national advisory committee found it would make travel safer, boost the economy, and aid national defense in case of a need to move troops or evacuate cities.
The law called for the construction of a 41,000-mile system, paid for by taxes on drivers including for fuel.
Routes were named with odd numbers for those that run north and south (the lowest beginning in the West) and even numbers for those that run east and west (the lowest numbered in the South), according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Most of the network was completed by 1996. Today, the 48,482-mile controlled-access system includes 10 transcontinental routes. Its impact has ranged widely, from helping power the transport of goods to damaging some neighborhoods of color through which planners routed some of the highways.
Since its creation, annual vehicle miles of travel on interstates have reached 3.3 trillion, according to an analysis by TRIP. And they play outsized roles, carrying about a quarter of the nation’s traffic in 2016 despite making up 2.5% of total lanes.
Has the Interstate Highway System faced problems?
A Transportation Research Board report found as a result of its age, heavy use, and deferred reinvestment, the need for reconstruction and modernization was persistent and growing, Moretti said.
Federal data shows that among interstate bridges, for example, about 3% are rated in poor condition, with 58% rated in fair condition.
Meanwhile, travel on the interstate system grew by 26% between 2000 and 2019. But that was nearly triple the rate at which new lane capacity was added.
And that means more congestion. About 47% of urban Interstate highways are considered congested during peak hours, according to TRIP.
In 2021, new funding was made available in Biden Administration’s infrastructure package. That has created projects funded or underway to repair 69,000 miles of roadway and 4,600 bridges, the administration said recently.
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What other major shutdowns have happened in the past?
One of the most significant occurred In 2007, when an I-35 bridge collapsed near Minneapolis, killing 13 people. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the cause of the collapse was an error by the bridge’s designers, the Associated Press reported.
One state agency found that closure caused a $113,000 daily reduction in the state’s economic output.
That same year, a highway overpass near Oakland, California, collapsed after a fuel truck caught fire.
A 2013 study at the University at Buffalo found fires caused 30 bridges to collapse from 1980 through 2012. Experts said heat from fire can quickly weaken bridge structures.
In 2017, an elevated section of I-85 that carried about 250,000 cars a day collapsed in Atlanta after a fire that burned construction materials stored beneath it. An NTSB report determined the state contributed by storing materials under the roadway.
In Pennsylvania, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was working to conduct a safety investigation of the impacted section.
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Should the repairs take months to complete?
Pennsylvania officials said there was no timeline yet for reopening seven miles of I-95 closed by the tanker truck fire – but repairs are anticipated to take months. With a structural review underway, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has promised help in accessing federal assistance with rebuilding.
But Moretti said that the critical nature of the interstate should help accelerate repairs as occurred in Atlanta in 2017. There, the $15 million project to replace five bridge spans took 43 days.
“”I would anticipate similar efforts are underway in Pennsylvania, given the absolute critical nature of that portion of the interstate system,” he said.
Even short closures can be costly. In 2008, a study by the Washington State Department of Transportation of two weather-related closures of I-5 and I-90 in the winter of 2007 to 2008, which occurred over several days each, found freight transportation losses of nearly $75 million in jobs, sales tax, and personal income.
In Pennsylvania, some nearby commuters were anticipating a long, grueling summer.
That included Newtown Township resident Maureen Gross who in 1996 was commuting when a fire damaged another portion of I-95, leading to a temporary closure, followed by lane limits that lasted for months during reconstruction.
“It’s going to drastically change my commute,” she said.
Contributing: Bucks County Courier Times