United States: A stretch of highway collapsed in Philadelphia

The fire of a tanker truck that occurred on Monday morning caused the collapse of an overpass on a major highway in the state of Philadelphia, United States, forcing the closure of one of the busiest routes on the east coast of the country. The incident, which caused long traffic jams, occurred on a stretch of I-95 that had to be closed in both directions. It all started after a truck carrying gasoline caught fire on Sunday for reasons that have not yet been established. No deaths or injuries had been reported late on Sunday. Still, officials admitted that rebuilding the stretch of highway, one of the main East Coast roads from Miami to the Canadian border in Maine, would take several months. Early Monday morning, local reporters said slow traffic was close to total collapse. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro urged residents to look for alternative routes, take commuter trains or work from home if possible. We’re all going to need a little patience in the coming days,” Leslie Richards, executive director of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which manages public transportation in the Philadelphia area, said at a news conference Sunday. The governor has already announced that he will declare a state of catastrophe, which will free up federal funds to help rebuild a stretch of highway that 160,000 vehicles travel a day.

Original source in Spanish