Pennsylvania Using Tons of Recycled Glass Nuggets to Rebuild I-95

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Pennsylvania will truck in 2,000 tons of lightweight glass nuggets to help quickly rebuild a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and crews will work 24 hours a day until they can reopen the critical commercial artery, officials said. Instead of rebuilding the overpass right away, crews will use the recycled glass to fill in the collapsed area to avoid supply-chain delays for other materials, Gov. Josh Shapiro said.

But Shapiro repeatedly declined to estimate how long it will take to get traffic flowing again on the busy East Coast highway. “We’re going to get this job done as quickly as possible,” Shapiro said at a news conference near the site, over the sounds of heavy machinery working to clear wreckage. He said the work would be done with union labor. Investigators continued to look into why a truck hauling gasoline went out of control on an off-ramp and flipped on its side, igniting a fire early Sunday that caused the collapse of the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 and severely damaged the southbound lanes.

Workers will fill the gap — which is roughly 100 feet long and 150 feet wide — by piling recycled foam glass aggregate into the underpass area, bringing it up to surface level and then paving it over so that three lanes of traffic can reopen each way, Shapiro said. After that, a replacement bridge will be built next to it to reroute traffic while crews excavate the fill to restore the exit ramp, officials said.

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