Stretch of I-95 just outside NYC reopens 4 days after fiery tanker crash

Published May 5, 2024

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Published May 5, 2024

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One of the busiest roadways in the Northeast was back up and running on Sunday, less than four days after a fiery crash forced it to close.

Since Friday, crews on Interstate 95 in Norwalk, Conn. worked to restore a stretch of roadway and demolish a bridge that was damaged after multiple cars crashed, leading to a tanker truck to burst into flames.

“It is truly amazing that in less than 80 hours from that fiery crash Thursday that shut down traffic in both directions, the highway again is fully open,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont wrote in a statement.

The roadway is a key connection between New York City and New England, and the damaged area sits about 30 miles outside of the Bronx. The stretch of damaged road carries more than 150,000 vehicles per day, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Crews restored the northbound section of the roadway on Saturday, and opened the other side to traffic on Sunday morning. The state in the next two weeks expects to release a design to replace the demolished Fairfield Avenue Bridge.

No one died or was seriously injured in Thursday’s crash.

The MTA had planned to add extra train cars on Metro-North service Monday to account for a possible uptick in riders, but has canceled those plans.

Before the damaged roadway could reopen to traffic, crews had to remove tons of damaged steel and concrete, according to Connecticut officials. The highway had to be milled, paved and re-painted.

The crash has echoes of another one in Philadelphia last year, a portion of I-95 collapsed after a gas tanker driver lost control of his rig on an off ramp and crashed, sparking a fire that brought down a section of the roadway. The driver in that crash died and traffic was halted in both directions of I-95 for about two weeks.

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Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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