LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM)– The next steps are underway to install a permanent road at the site of the I-95 overpass that collapsed in June.
One of the companies the state is turning to resides in Lancaster County. High Steel Structures is supporting the project with 16 girder beams. Each beam is one hundred feet long, which is the length of the bridge.
“We’ve got I-95 re-opened. Now we are rebuilding the permanent bridge with the steel beams forged here at High Structures,” said Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that we can’t make things here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Governor Josh Shapiro. “We sure as hell can and that is an example of what we can do when we work together.”
Normally, it can take time to get that quantity of steel. However, that process is being sped up.
“Usually it takes 10-12 weeks to get steel. So right there that’s three months,” said Ronnie Medlock, the vice president of technical services at High Steel. “In this case the mill worked with us to turn steel around in a matter of a week and a half.”
That’s not the only plan being expedited.
“The shop drawing has to be approved,” said Medlock. “Those approvals take three to four weeks. In this case they came back in one day.”
“We are all hands on deck until this job is finally complete,” said Shapiro.
It only took 12 days for a replacement bridge to be built. Governor Shapiro is promising Pennsylvanians again that the permanent answer will follow in the same footsteps.
“Weeks. Not months,” said Shapiro.