Fiery Crash Shuts Down Interstate 95
12:58 PM EST, March 26, 2004
Associated Press
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A section of the main traffic
artery linking New York and Boston could be shut
down for two weeks or more following a fiery tanker
truck accident that melted a bridge on Interstate 95,
Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland said Friday.
"It's going to be a pain in the neck," Rowland said after
surveying the scene between exits 25 and 27.
State police said a car apparently forced a tanker truck
carrying 12,000 gallons of home heating oil into a
concrete barrier on the southbound side of the
highway, sparking a huge fire that burned for a couple
of hours and damaged both sides of the interstate
Thursday night.
No one was seriously injured.
State police identified the driver of the car as Sarah
Waddle of Derby. She said Friday morning she was not
injured.
"I'm here with the cops now and we're going over
everything," Waddle said.
Ronald Jantzen, a state Department of Transportation
engineer, said the highway buckled and the overpass,
which was new, sagged several feet. He described the
southbound side of the interstate as "totaled." He said
the northbound lanes may be salvageable.
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Engineers were taking measurements Friday morning as
crews worked to clean up the scene.
Authorities said the fire damaged the steel support
beams that carry both sides of the highway over
Howard Avenue.
Bridgeport Fire Chief Michael Maglione estimated the
fire burned at 1,800 degree to 2,000 degrees. Steel
begins to weaken at 1,400 degrees to 1,500 degrees.
Maglione said cars moving past the accident scene
created a mist of heating oil in the air, which was
probably what caused the fire. Home furnaces have a
device to create such a spray, he said.
"When you put this type of a fuel in a mist form if it
finds a point of ignition it will light," he said.
Rowland said there was a possibility the northbound
side of the highway could be reopened this weekend.
But the southbound side of the bridge will have to be
torn down, he said.
Instead of rebuilding the bridge, engineers will close the
street below and use fill to span the gap between the
highway and Howard Avenue. A temporary highway
will then be built on top of that fill.
Rowland said work to reopen the highway would begin
immediately. He said he hoped it could be completed in
two weeks, and estimated the cost at between $3
million and $4 million. Rowland declared the site a
disaster area, and said the state will received $11.2 million in federal highway aid. |
I-95 is a vital and heavily congested artery connecting
the New York City area with Connecticut and the rest
of New England. Nearly 120,000 vehicles a day travel
the span where the crash occurred.
State officials urged motorists, especially tractor-trailer
drivers, to avoid I-95 and the Bridgeport area until the
highway is fixed.
Southbound traffic was being diverted to Route 25 and
the Merritt Parkway, a historic highway that is closed to
commercial truck traffic. Several tractor-trailers tried to
use the Merritt but were stopped by police.
Trucks southbound on I-95 were sent to Route 8 and
Interstate 84. But a tractor-trailer jackknifed on that
the northbound side of Route 8 Friday morning, adding
to the traffic nightmare.
Northbound cars and trucks were being rerouted
through the streets of Bridgeport and Fairfield and back
onto Interstate 95.
Fairfield Police Chief Joseph Sambrook said traffic was
gridlocked in that town. "It's horrible, horrible," he said.
The Metro-North commuter railroad between
Connecticut and New York City planned to have
express trains make some local stops if necessary.
The governor and state police urged commercial truck
traffic from New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts
to enter Connecticut on I-84 or not at all.
I-95 has been the scene of many traffic disasters over
the years, including a crash last year a few miles away
that killed four Yale University students and the 1983
Mianus River Bridge collapse in Greenwich that killed
three people. |
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The truck driver in Thursday's accident and a firefighter
appeared to be the only people who required medical
attention.
The truck driver, Gilbert Robinson, 33, of Naugatuck,
was treated at Bridgeport Hospital and released. He
declined to comment when reached by telephone
Friday morning. Robinson was driving a 2000 Mack
owned by Island Transport of Connecticut and Long
Island, N.Y.
An unidentified firefighter was overcome by fumes and
brought to the hospital for observation.
Robinson was driving south on I-95 when his truck was
forced into the concrete barrier and onto its side at
about 8 p.m., police said. It skidded down the highway
about 100 yards, knocking down two light poles.
Accident investigators said they believe sparks from the
poles lit the fuel. |
