I-95 collapse: Transportation Secretary Buttigieg vows federal help to fix damaged interstate

PHILADELPHIA - U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promised Tuesday to help repair the East Coast’s main north-south highway as quickly as possible and said that the destruction of a section of I-95 will likely raise the cost of consumer goods because truckers must now travel longer routes.Speaking near the site where an out-of-control tractor-trailer hauling gasoline flipped over on an Interstate 95 off-ramp and caught fire, Buttigieg said he expected that disruptions in trucking routes will put "upward pressure" on shipping costs along the East Coast.Buttigieg toured the site and then, over the sounds of heavy machinery and demolition, told reporters that "every resource that is needed will be made available" to help Pennsylvania repair the bridge as quickly and safely as possible.But the collapse is snarling traffic in Philadelphia as the summer travel season starts, upending hundreds of thousands of morning commutes, disrupting countless businesses and forcing trucking companies to find different routes.

Related As officials are set to announce reconstruction plans for I-95 on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says detours and route changes could cause the prices of goods to rise.Police say the driver perished in the accident, and the Philadelphia medical examiner on Tuesday night identified him as Nathan Moody.

He was 53. The resulting fire caused the collapse of the northbound lanes of I-95. The southbound lanes were compromised by the heat from the fire, authorities say.It could take weeks, at least, to replace the damaged and destroyed section.Pennsylvania’s transportation secretary, Michael Carroll, said demolition work is continuing around the clock and that his agency will release a.