The major traffic artery linking New England with New York will be closed in Connecticut for days after a tanker fire damaged a bridge over Interstate 95, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.
A crash involving two trucks and a passenger vehicle early Thursday morning sparked a massive fire that shut down I-95 both ways near exit 15 in Norwalk.
The collision involved one truck loaded with 8,500 gallons of gasoline, which erupted in flames underneath the Fairfield Avenue Bridge that passes over I-95 north and south.
There were no fatalities or serious injuries reported.
Lamont said Thursday afternoon the repairs to the highway will take days.
“The heat from the burning fuel compromised some of the bridge. So that bridge is going to have to come down,” Lamont said. “That could probably take 24 hours, or a little longer than that. Then they’re going to have to take a second look at repaving to make sure the road is safe and secure.”
Lamont said the hope is to reopen the interstate by Monday morning.
“This bridge is less than 10 years old … but the damage was pretty severe due to the amount of gasoline that was in the tanker ignited directly underneath the bridge structure,” Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said. “The steel did begin to overheat and warp.”
Motorists should seek alternate routes and plan for traffic delays.
Text alerts were sent to residents of Connecticut and New York, and trucking companies were notified to find alternative routes and means of travel, Lamont said. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has also been notified.
Traffic was backed up for dozens of miles during the morning rush hour, and the crash left other highways and secondary roads in gridlock. The major alternate route in the area, the Merritt Parkway, cannot be used by trucks because the underpasses on that highway are too low.
In a statement, the Norwalk Public Schools warned of “major delays” for buses Thursday morning.
Crews were assessing potential contamination to nearby waterways as a result of the fuel spill, said Paul Copleman, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Officials said Thursday afternoon the runoff was contained to a retention pond and did not make it into the Norwalk River.
