How the I-95 Bridge Reopened Just 12 Days After Fiery Collapse

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At about 6:20 a.m. on June 11, a tanker truck carrying 87-octane gasoline overturned in the Cottman Avenue underpass under 1-95, killing the driver and sparking a fireball that melted the steel frame of the bridge above.

By 9 a.m., state engineers were on the phone with Archie Filshill, CEO of Aero Aggregates. It’s the only North American manufacturer of a foamed-glass aggregate made of recycled beer bottles and mayonnaise jars that can be used as lightweight fill material.

Repair workers needed it if they had any hope of sticking to a speedy schedule.

That’s because an 86-inch sewer main and a 36-inch water main run along Cottman Avenue, which runs below the now-collapsed overpass. If crews had piled gravel on top of the road, they ran the risk of collapsing the mains under the weight of the backfill.

So they turned to Filshill’s glass-aggregate-based fill. While it can cost as much as 50% more than traditional fill, it can also be shipped quicker and in fewer truckloads because it’s light weight, and can be used in any weather.

Luckily, the Aero facility that makes it was only 25 miles from the site of the collapse.