News

Here’s what a Super-Secret Philly Engineering Source Says About I-95 Reconstruction

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 14th, 2023 · 1:46 PM EDT

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Governor Shapiro spoke in Philly on Wednesday morning, noting that the I-95 rebuild will consist of a backfill and temporary roadway, then full reconstruction of the destroyed bridge.

We’ve got a super-secret city source who added the following details about the project:

• source thinks it will take at least four months just to get the steel beams required for second phase/final rebuild
• source notes that because this section of 95 was recently redone, the design work and construction specs are already finished and can simply be “dusted off”
• getting materials is tough right now because “everything is slow”
• source notes that there were multiple contracts and multiple firms involved with the original work on I-95, including Benesch and Hill International
• source believes that the biggest “time killer” for these types of projects is union labor
• the backfill material is “strong” and the local Delco spot mentioned in the press conference is believed to be Aero Aggregates out of Eddystone (a small spot near the airport)
• rain really screws things up, so we should all “hope for a drought”

Source tells us that “they’ll get the temporary solution up quick, but it’s gonna be a nightmare.”

FYI Governor Shapiro did reveal the firm working on the site at the presser (this nugget via the Inquirer) –

The firm hired to reconstruct the highway, Buckley & Co., has “an open-ended contract,” PennDot Secretary Mike Carroll said. Those types of contracts are “very common in such a scenario” as the 95 collapse, he added.

”The Buckley firm is quite capable of doing this work,” Carroll said. In hiring a firm, he added, PennDot was looking for a group with a readily available workforce and equipment, as well as the expertise for the job.

Buckley handled repairs after the Port Richmond tire fire back in the 90s. They’re also doing the I-95 cap project at Penn’s Landing.

If our super-secret source ends up being correct on all of of this stuff, we are no longer a sports blog, but a civil engineering blog. Kinker and Pagan, the keynote speakers at Drexel 2024 graduation. And if source is wrong, we will delete and deny.

We’re home for the holidays in the City of Brotherly Love! In this PennDOT project, AeroAggregates was used to support a flyover ramp to I-95 SB. Project constructed by Buckley & Company Inc, + @AEGroup_LLC and @TensarCorp provided support on the engineering and geogrid design! pic.twitter.com/oOXjirxbVe

— AeroAggregates (@AeroAggregates) December 19, 2022