I-95 Bridge Collapse and Solutions, Explained by Professor Kim Roddis


June 14, 2023

Prof. Kim Roddis

In the article, "Body recovered in I-95 bridge wreckage as drivers face months of disruptions,” The Washington Post interviewed Kim Roddis, a retired Professor of Civil Engineering at GW, to provide readers with a reason as to why a bridge that carries Interstate 95 failed.

Here is an excerpt from the article: “The bridge becomes much less strong and eventually what happens is it can’t carry its own weight and it slumps down,” Roddis said.

In a follow-up article titled, “Temporary road will be built to quickly reopen collapsed stretch of I-95,” the Post interviewed Roddis again for her expertise on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s announcement to build a temporary road using recycled glass material to patch the gap in I-95 left by the bridge collapse.

Here is an excerpt from the article: “This is a really great way to get the functionality back,” Roddis said. “This is the kind of thing that might get done in a military situation but we usually don’t do it because we want to be able to do the permanent fix.” 

Read the full articles about how this closure is affecting Philadelphia and the entire mid-Atlantic region and the plan to build a temporary road on The Washington Post.