Philadelphia fire closes Tacony-Palmyra Bridge for several hours

PALMYRA - A truck fire in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon caused a temporary shutdown of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.

The blaze, which started shortly before 5 p.m., halted traffic in both directions until around 8 p.m., said Joseph Andl, executive director of the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which owns and operates the span.

He said the fire, on a lot used as a truck yard, posed no danger to the Delaware River span between South Jersey and Philadelphia.

But billowing clouds of black smoke were a hazard for bridge traffic.

"It's not affecting the bridge other than the smoke," Andl said about 6:45 p.m.

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"It's just because of the thick smoke that the decision was made to close the bridge," he added.

"The Philadelphia Fire Department also closed some roads in the area of the fire," Andl said.

A fire department representative could not be reached for comment.

The span is one of two river crossings operated by the Burlington County Bridge Commission. The other, the Burlington-Bristol Bridge, connects Burlington City and Bristol, Pennsylvania.

The blaze came seven weeks after as fiery tanker truck accident caused an overpass to collapse on Interstate 95, a highway that parallels the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia.

A Pennsauken trucker, 53-year-old Nate Moody, died in the June 11 accident.

Workers restored a temporary link 12 days after the accident, but officials have said a full-rebuild of I-95 will take months.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email him at jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Concerns over smoke prompted Tacony-Palmyra Bridge closing