PHILADELPHIA—Drivers began longer commutes Monday after an elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed in Philadelphia a day earlier following damage caused by a tanker truck carrying flammable cargo catching fire.
Sunday’s fire closed a heavily traveled segment of the East Coast’s main north-south highway indefinitely. Newscasts warned of traffic nightmares and gave advice on detours, urging drivers to take more time to travel.
“This is really going to have a ripple effect throughout the region,” AAA spokesperson Jana Tidwell said Monday. She advised people to avoid peak travel times.
Tidwell also anticipated that drivers will incur additional costs—“more gasoline, more wear and tear on their cars, additional tolls, in terms of leaving Pennsylvania into New Jersey and then back into Pennsylvania.”…