Traffic snarled as workers begin removing I-95 overpass scorched in Connecticut fuel truck inferno
Workers have begun removing a bridge over a Connecticut highway that was damaged in a fiery crash involving a gasoline tanker truck
Work crews began demolishing a bridge damaged in a fiery crash that kept Interstate 95 in Connecticut closed for a second day Friday, as motorists' nerves continued to fray in hours of traffic jams on and around the main artery linking New England and New York.
“It’s crazy,” said Marco Ortiz, a tattoo artist at Javier Eastman Tattoo Studios in Norwalk on Connecticut Avenue, one of the detours jammed bumper-to-bumper. “I’ve seen people beeping, trying to cut other people off, making faces, hand gestures. It’s not good. You’ve got to be patient. What else can we do? It was a really bad accident.”
The highway remained shut down in both directions after Thursday morning's three-vehicle wreck, in which a gasoline tanker burst into flames that engulfed the Fairfield Avenue overpass above I-95 in Norwalk and damaged the structure.
Gov. Ned Lamont said plans to reopen all six lanes before rush hour Monday morning appeared to be on track.
“And here we are more than 24 hours later, that bridge is going to be down very soon,” Lamont said at a news conference in Norwalk on Friday. “The shears are coming in to lift off the final piece of this. Get the asphalt back in place. And hopefully… we get I-95 going in both directions on Monday.”
About 160,000 vehicles travel that section of I-95 in both directions daily, officials said. Detours on local roads added up to an hour or more to trips through the area for some motorists, while others sought alternate routes far from the scene.
John Blair, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, said the trucking industry group has been working
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