Sandi Yeakley Recognized for I-95 Emergency Repairs

PHILADELPHIA, PA—Benesch’s I-95 Bridge Collapse Emergency Repairs project has been honored with WTS Philadelphia’s Innovative Transportation Solution Award. The award recognizes an innovative transportation project led by a woman that improves the quality of life for its users and the community.

When the I-95 bridge collapsed along a corridor that accommodates 160,000 vehicles daily in Philadelphia, Benesch quickly established a team of key professionals to handle the pressure of the urgent circumstances. This included Sandi Yeakley, PE as the roadway/traffic lead, project historian and I-95 resource.

As a long-time Benesch employee, Sandi managed the original design of the bridge 10 years ago and was intimately familiar with the project details and documents. Following the collapse, Sandi located the original bridge plans with ease—one of only a few people that would be familiar enough to do so.

Sandi also led the team responsible for developing the traffic control plans and ensured traffic could safely navigate through the construction zone once the temporary roadway was reopened. In order to open the roadway safely the plans multiplied exponentially, increasing from 8 pages to 112 in a matter of days.

The team’s traffic control staging evaluation determined construction could be completed in two stages rather than three. They revealed half-width construction was feasible within the existing roadway footprint which would reduce overall repair time. Each stage maintains three lanes of traffic in both directions–providing partial interstate capacity until the permanent solution is completed. The staging limits work by inches and require 11-foot traffic lanes and a custom median barrier.

Sandi was presented with the award at WTS Philadelphia’s annual Snowball Awards Soirée on November 30.