Delco Business Providing Key Material For I-95 Rebuild

EDDYSTONE, PA — A Delaware County-based company has become an integral part of the major effort to get traffic flowing on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia again.

Located in Eddystone, Aero Aggregates of North America is supplying the project with a special material that will be used to backfill the collapsed and demolished portions of highway.

According to Action News, the company is hauling tons of a glass-foam hybrid material that is similar to rock to the construction site.

Trucks were escorted from Delaware County to Philadelphia by Pennsylvania State Police to expedite the hauling and unloading process, as officials work around the clock to resume traffic flow.

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The material, called Ultra-Light Foamed Glass Aggregate, is made by crushing recycled glass into a fine powder, adding a foaming agent to the glass, then heating it in a kiln, Fox 29 reports.

The result is a lightweight, rock-like material.

According to NBC10, AeroAggregates CEO Archie Filshill said about 100 box truck-loads of 10,000 cubic yards of the material will be needed for the project.

That amounts to about 2,000 tons of material, which is reportedly significantly less weight than the same amount of traditional material, such as dirt or sand, would weigh.

Crews will layer the material with metal caging in between the layers for added support.

Once the material is in place, crews will pave over it, creating a three lane highway on both the north and southbound sides of Interstate 95.

This temporary highway will be used until officials are ready to install new bridges on the highway.