The Collapse That Snarls Truckers

'Huge hassle': I-95 collapse snarls truckers but wider economic damage uncertain

The collapse of a section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia left Glenn Messinger scrambling to find new routes for 40 trucks that deliver food each day from a warehouse located a block away from the wreckage.

Huge Hussle

"It's a huge hassle," said Messinger, the vice president of branch operations for Baldor Specialty Foods, which delivers items to restaurants across the East Coast.
"You need to have a lot of patience."

The branch's truckers, who Messinger says make between $19 and $23 an hour, have been forced to take an alternative route that takes as much as 40 minutes longer than usual, hiking delivery costs, he said. He noted that the company has opted to leave prices unchanged.
"We're just going to have suck it up,"
The truckers coordinated by Messinger are among 14,000 who drive along I-95 each day, making their delay one of the most pronounced economic effects of a highway collapse that has disrupted the transport of goods and the commute of employees, experts and business officials told.
"A lot of America's GDP is moving along that road every single day," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigiege said at a press conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday. "It's not just an inconvenience -- it's a cost."

Source: ABC News