Workers on Friday began demolishing a bridge over a highway in Connecticut that was damaged in an accident. violent collision The project, which involves gas tank trucks, is expected to extend the traffic nightmare caused by the I-95 closure into the weekend.
The day after the accident, crews removed metal fencing on the bridge in Norwalk, and then two large excavators, one on each side of the highway, began demolishing the concrete portion of the structure. It started. Bucket loaders scooped up debris from the highway, dumped it into containers, and trucked it away.
Gov. Ned Lamont said the plan is to have both sides of the freeway fully reopened by Monday morning’s commute. He and other officials continued to urge motorists to avoid the area.
“And now, over 24 hours later, here we are. And that bridge is going to collapse soon,” Lamont said Friday at a news conference in Norwalk. “The shear is coming in. Lift the last piece of this up. We’re going to put the asphalt back in place. And then hopefully… we’ll be able to open Interstate 95 in both directions on Monday. ”
Officials said the shears are special heavy equipment that will be used to cut the bridge’s metal support parts starting Saturday morning. That will take about 24 hours, after which the damaged portion of the highway will be repaired by scraping and repaving, state Transportation Commissioner Garrett Ukritt said.
The accident happened around 5:30 a.m. Thursday on the southbound side of the highway. The tanker truck, which was carrying about 8,500 gallons (32,000 liters) of gasoline, burst into flames after colliding with a tractor-trailer and a car under the Fairfield Avenue bridge. Highway traffic camera video showed a large fire consuming the bridge. Officials said no one was seriously injured.
State police said Friday that the driver of a car tried to merge from the right lane and collided with a gasoline truck, hitting a tractor-trailer in the other lane and starting a fire. The cause of the crash remains under investigation and no charges have been announced.
Traffic on both sides of the highway was surrounded by three travel lanes and an exit lane as drivers were diverted onto public roads around the accident scene. A livestream showed cars and trucks slowly moving down the exit ramp. On Friday afternoon, the state Department of Transportation announced the 16-mile (26-kilometer) trip from the New York border north of Interstate 95 to Route 7 in Norwalk would take nearly 90 minutes.
Traffic was backed up on one of the detours, Connecticut Avenue in Norwalk, and some drivers were nervous. Employees at local stores said it took them an extra 30 minutes to an hour to get to work, and business was suffering.
“It’s crazy,” said Marco Ortiz, a tattoo artist at Javier Eastman Tattoo Studio on Connecticut Avenue. “I’ve seen people try to disturb other people by beeping, making faces, gesticulating. That’s not okay. You have to put up with it. Others… What can we do? It was a really bad accident.”
Officials say about 160,000 vehicles use this section of Interstate 95 each day.
John Blair, president of the Connecticut Motor Carrier Association, said the trucking industry group is working with state police and the Department of Transportation to educate truck drivers in the Northeast about safe alternative routes.
The association has had a number of problems in the past 24 hours, including a tractor-trailer driver who is unfamiliar with Connecticut, crashing into a low bridge and pulling down power lines on a local road while attempting to drive near a road closure. He said that The group is urging long-haul truck drivers to avoid that area of the state.
“We’re pushing them as far north as we can,” Blair said. “We’re trying to reach out to them before they get to Connecticut and make sure they avoid 95 degrees completely.”
The accident closed Norwalk schools and significantly increased traffic on other highways and secondary roads. Merritt Parkway, the area’s main alternative route, is too low for truck access.
Jillian Mauro, press aide for the Connecticut House Republicans, said she noticed more tractor trailers and fender benders in stop-and-go traffic during her commute from Danbury to Hartford. .
“We’re definitely seeing a steady parade of trucks,” Mauro said. The commute to the Capitol on Friday took 90 minutes instead of the usual hour. She saw an unusually large number of tractor-trailers parked on the side of Interstate 84 Thursday night, as drivers appeared to be taking a mandatory break.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said removing the bridge and repairing the road could cost about $20 million. He and other members of the state’s congressional delegation plan to ask the Federal Highway Administration for emergency funds to pay for all costs. Lamont has declared a state of emergency, which could help raise funds.
I remember the accident, last year’s fatal event A trailer carrying gasoline lost control and caught fire along Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, destroying part of the highway.
Thursday’s accident comes just over a year after a similar accident occurred on Interstate 95 in Connecticut in April 2023. In the accident, a fuel truck collided with a parked car on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between New London and Groton, causing a fire. The driver of the fuel truck was killed and the southbound side of the bridge was closed for several hours. car driver He was recently charged with manslaughter.
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Associated Press writer Susan Haig in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.
