On Tuesday, just about a year after after a deadly tanker truck explosion destroyed part of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia, PennDOT officials were set to cut the ribbon on a new ramp to complete the project to rebuild the interchange onto I-95 at Cottman Avenue.
Officials were expected to open the new ramp to traffic at about noon on Tuesday.
The effort completes the third and final project that was part of a widening effort of I-95 and a reconstruction effort on the interchange of Cottman Avenue to I-95 that was damaged when a tanker truck exploded on the roadway on June 11, 2023.
Along with a new ramp, the project also saw I-95 widened to four lanes between Rhawn and Levick streets.
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The project was part of a $52.7 million contract and it also provided for improved surface streets serving the interchange and rerouted a sanitary sewer in order to accommodate the construction of the new ramp.
Recently, investigators learned that gasoline spilled out from an unsecured hatch on the top of the gasoline delivery tanker that overturned and ignited beneath an Interstate 95 bridge in Philadelphia a year ago, according to new details from federal investigators.
Investigators believe the cover to the 16-inch “manhole” was open when driver Nathan Moody arrived at a Wilmington, Delaware, terminal to refill the tank and it was still not properly secured when he drove away to deliver it to a convenience store in Philadelphia, about 42 miles away.
The crash killed Moody and disrupted transportation along a vital interstate for weeks.
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