Villanova University I-95 Subject Matter Experts
Villanova University faculty experts can provide insight into the Interstate 95 collapse and the key issues that will impact its rebuilding in the days, weeks and months ahead. Below, Villanova faculty share their general expertise on topics ranging from financial responsibility and local business impact to engineering considerations and supply chain issues.
If you're interested in speaking with any of our experts, email mediaexperts@villanova.edu and the Public Relations team will be happy to coordinate an interview.
Villanova Faculty Areas of Expertise
Peter Zaleski, PhD
Professor of Economics
Villanova School of Business
“There is precedent for federal subsidies in these situations; so even though the states are responsible to maintain the Interstates, one can expect most, if not all of this cost, to be paid for by the federal government.”
Kathleen Iacocca, PhD
Associate Professor of Management and Operations
Villanova School of Business
“The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) does work on roads all the time and it greatly impacts business. Any business along that [closed stretch] will be greatly impacted.”
Chenfeng Xiong, PhD
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
“Obviously the impacted I-95 section is playing an important role serving local and through traffic. The corridor is heavily traversed by Philadelphia commuters, long-distance and inter-city travelers in the Northeast region and, not just passenger travels, but also freight vehicles supporting our economy and everyday life.”
Bret Myers, PhD
Professor of Practice, Management and Operations
Villanova School of Business
“From a logistical standpoint, this is bound to cause some form of traffic issues that should have impact on attendance for summer professional sports in South Philadelphia and Chester. I would suspect that the most adverse impact would be in these initial few weeks as everyone adjusts to alternate routes and experiences what the traffic patterns are like. This could potentially lead to a drop in ticket prices as there could be a greater supply of tickets available on primary and secondary markets.”
Kathleen Iacocca, PhD
Associate Professor of Management and Operations
Villanova School of Business
“The transportation model has to change but supply and demand haven't. So, when you still have the same amount of product that has to move and the same demand level, but you lose some of the infrastructure, it's going to put pressure on the other areas of the infrastructure. Businesses will still find a way, but perhaps there are longer lead times, more drive time, more expensive transportation costs and, certainly for the consumer, more congestion.”
“Philadelphia has so many distribution centers for multiple items that anyone that has that specific local distribution center could be impacted... There are a lot of distribution centers along the river, so that is where a lot of ports and commerce come through. Businesses that use I-95 as major corridors are going to have some problems. If you can bypass I-95 by going on the Blue Route or any other way that's fine, but some of these places just can't because that's where their headquarters really are.”
“[To the consumer] it'll be more of an inconvenience. Other things that we have experienced, we have weathered those storms.”
Bret Myers, PhD
Professor of Practice, Management and Operations
Villanova School of Business
“Overall, though, this should have an impact on supply chains in general. Shipping delays tend to send reverberating effects that will have the greatest impact on the consumer in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Companies that have more resilient and flexible supply chain, like Amazon, will likely experience minimal impact, but companies that are trying to be more efficient, maybe like Walmart, Target, and Ikea, could face more significant challenges.”
Chenfeng Xiong, PhD
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
“One of the first responses from DOTs when this type of disasters happened is to identify alternative routes for travelers. Through traffic volumes can be served by NJ Turnpike, while local road users could take US 1 and a few other local detours. There are ways for road users to bypass the impacted I-95 segment. And the challenge, i.e., that over 150 thousand-vehicle daily traffic carried by the collapsed I-95 segment, will be brought to those alternatives.”
“Generally, traffic patterns on I-95, like other critical highways, can vary throughout the year. We may see fewer commuters using the corridor, which could lead to fluctuations during the summer months. However, it is not necessarily the case that traffic is consistently lighter during this time, as we may observe an increase in vacation travel, events, construction projects and more. These factors would bring unique and unprecedented challenges to the resilience of the transportation system in the Philadelphia area. The transportation system's resilience relies on its 'redundancy,' which means having extra and reserved capacity to accommodate occasional spikes in traffic. The collapse will certainly test that upper limit. Another challenge that I foresee is the increased traffic pressure in neighborhood areas surrounding the impacted segment of I-95. As many interstate travelers on I-95 are diverted through these neighborhood areas, the local communities could experience consistently higher levels of external traffic for months to come.”
Kathleen Iacocca, PhD
Associate Professor of Management and Operations
Villanova School of Business
“If I-95 was the most direct route, then you have to pay people - it's usually an hourly wage at the transportation level - because it takes them longer to get places and/or they are using more gas. We can expect higher costs. As the consumer we don't think it’s substantial, but many places of business require frequent deliveries. Anything like food and consumer perishables, prescription drugs - we can’t always solve the problem by saying ‘come less often.’ Some industries can certainly say that, but they don’t have the infrastructure to hold more inventory than what they are holding.”