When a 104-foot long, four-lane stretch of I-95 in Philadelphia collapsed after a fiery gas truck explosion on June 11, 2023, it kickstarted what would become one of the most dramatic, quick-turn construction jobs in modern U.S. history.

One look at the numbers showed how dire the situation was. The affected interstate segment carried 160,000 vehicles daily, and the road’s closure would impact an astounding 2.2 million people, so Pennsylvania officials wasted no time starting the rebuild of the roadway. Calling in top Philly-based contractor Robert Buckley to lead the project, the state hoped to get the interstate back and fully operational at the destruction site over Cotton Avenue as quickly as possible, with Governor Shapiro giving an estimated construction timeline of as little as three weeks.

But Buckley decided to fast-track the already-tight timeline—he ambitiously said he could complete the build by the Fourth of July—and the project he endearingly (and fittingly) called the “Philly Special” turned out successful. With the help of some innovative foamed glass and a nonstop work schedule, Buckley’s crew managed to construct a temporary bridge in under two weeks. After giving the roadway one final pave in mid-to-late June, all workers had left to do before reopening the road was paint the lines.

However, an unforeseen, uncontrollable factor threatened to put the construction project’s finishing touches on hold: Mother Nature.

As explained in this Pop Mech feature on the high-stakes bridge rebuild, when the construction crew reached the final step of the temporary bridge completion—lane striping—rain storms passed through Philadelphia, soaking the roads and rendering painting impossible. “We got this far, and we got stopped because of paint?” Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll told Buckley at the time.

However, Carroll had a creative solution to solve the weather-induced dilemma. Why not bring in a gigantic dryer?

Carroll, who had previously been a state representative for Luzerne County, was quite familiar with the area’s Pocono Raceway, which consistently hosts NASCAR, IndyCar, and other auto races year round. He thought back to his days at the track when the speedway would pull out its industrial-strength jet dryer—an Air Titan 2.0—to dry the track when rain showers came through. It’s a massive machine, and can slowly roll down roads while running at 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, he thought, why not haul in the dryer from the Poconos to dry off the temporary bridge?

Now, bringing in the Air Titan 2.0 was not as simple as loading it onto a truck and driving it to Philadelphia. Ricky Durst, senior director at Pocono, informed Carroll that he’d need a lot of pure kerosene—5,000 gallons—to make the industrial dryer run. Thankfully, Bucky had a contact in New Jersey who could stock the kerosene, and not long after confirming the crew had the needed fuel, Durst put the dryer on the back of a red Chevy Silverado and sent it on its way to the job site (with a police escort, of course).

Carroll’s hunch about the dryer proved correct. The Air Titan worked magic, drying the road at a quick pace to allow lane striping to begin. And once the construction crew painted all the lines, the temporary bridge was finally set to open. For Buckley and his subcontractors and workers, it marked the end of an adrenaline-filled undertaking that left everyone completely drained.

He explains the incredible toll the I-95 job took on himself and his crew:

After days of nonstop effort, the crew was physically and mentally exhausted, but also euphoric and filled with adrenaline. Buckley had lived on a diet of Wawa hot dogs and dust. Every part of his body ached. “Even my hair hurt,” he says. With the pressure, the strain, and the lack of sleep, he lost about 10 pounds. But more than anything, he was satisfied: The job was the most collaborative project of his career, and a grateful city with a reputation for being curmudgeonly, booing at visiting sports teams and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus—and who had watched the entire job on livestream—was ready to thank him and his crew.

On June 23, 2023, a mere 12 days after the destructive crash that destroyed the segment of I-95, cars started to hit the roadway over Cotton Avenue. The permanent structure would later be fully complete and operational by May 2024.

But using the massive racetrack dryer wasn’t the only unique strategy Buckley’s team and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation used to turn the destroyed I-95 stretch in Philly into a navigable road again. For a closer, behind-the-scenes look at how one of the quickest, most expensive road construction projects came to fruition, dive into the full Pop Mech feature now.