Here’s what we know about the I-95 Bridge Collapse

A section of I-95 collapsed on Sunday, June 11th, 2023 causing traffic delays and detours for Philadelphia commuters and businesses. The interstate, adjacent to the Tacony region of Philly, was destroyed due to a fire in a tanker truck carrying petroleum products. 

Traffic backups continue to impact the region, but the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation worked quickly to reroute commuter and commercial traffic. 

While this has been a huge national news story, it has hit especially close to home for our Honor Foods Team and Partners, as it happened just minutes away from our Tacony, Philadelphia location, and infrastructure and road closures can significantly impact the supply chain. 

Honor Foods, as an integral part of a supply chain connecting vendors and foodservice distributors, relies on carefully planning routes for dozens of inbound and outbound tractor-trailers daily. The City of Philadelphia has done a fantastic job of cleaning up the damage and creating alternative routes resulting in far less traffic than expected.

For all of our carriers headed to our warehouse, here are the suggested detour routes

-1-95 Southbound: Route 63 West (Woodhaven Road), U.S. 1 South, 76 East, 676 East

-195 Northbound: I676 West, I-76 West, U.S. 1 North to Route 63 East

The best way to select your route is by visiting the detour map here

PennDOT is constantly updating this map to reflect the most timely information. Penndot is working tirelessly to make simple adjustments that improve traffic flow on detour routes and create a temporary route, which the governor estimates will be ready in less than two weeks, while the permanent repair is ongoing. Governor Shapiro estimates a temporary solution to reopen this section of I-95 will take less than 2 weeks. (See the link below.)

Because of this, our distributor Partners can still expect on-time deliveries. Our Team has used our technology and worked hard to adjust routes, schedules, and timing of items picked in the warehouse to adjust for the route variation. Our warehouse and transportation Team, working with our carriers and Team Member drivers, have so far avoided significant disruption. We are thankful for them. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your Honor Foods Buyer or Sales Team Member to assist you in any way they can. 

How to stay up to speed on traffic routes to avoid I-95

Lastly, if you are planning a trip to Honor Foods or want to stay updated with the latest information, here is the best resource to stay up to speed on traffic routes and information about the incident. 

Press release from Governor Shapiro

To hear about future plans and estimated repair times, check out this press release from Governor Shapiro.

Update:

I-95 reopened ahead of schedule, 12 days after the collapse. Three lanes are now open in each direction, easing the conditions of commuters and lessening traffic for trucks coming to our Philadelphia location. The temporary road is made of 2,000 pounds of lightweight, recycled glass material, has a speed limit of 45 miles per hour, and will be considered an active work zone.

Engineers have already begun work on a permanent bridge. Crews will rebuild the outer sections of the bridge, and once complete, traffic will be rerouted so the construction of the inner areas of the bridge can be completed. Once the permanent repair is done, there will again be four lanes of traffic in each direction.  

We’d like to thank the over 200 members of the Philadelphia building trades for their work around the clock to build a solution that will benefit all those who rely on this road daily.  With over 160,000 vehicles traveling this road daily, 14 % of that being truck traffic, this is a massive relief for the logistics industry.

About Honor Foods

Honor Foods, a Burris Logistics Company, was founded in 1949 as a redistributor of prepared foods. Since then, Honor Foods has grown into a premier provider of frozen, refrigerated, dry, and dairy products representing more than 300 brand-name food suppliers and carrying more than 3,000 items. For more information about Honor Foods, please visit honorfoods.com. 

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