Busy Highway to N.Y. Shut by Fire Damage

NEWARK, N.J. — A garbage dump caught fire beneath Interstate 78 Monday, buckling the elevated roadway and causing a shutdown of the thoroughfare at one of the nation’s busiest highway interchanges.

“This is the most serious traffic emergency in my memory,” said Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who flew over the site. “It could not have occurred in a worse place.”

Further problems linking the busy New York area with parts of Pennsylvania could occur if the blaze spreads south to rubbish beneath U.S. 22, which parallels Interstate 78 about half a mile away.

“If it goes underneath Route 22, then east-west traffic could be a total loss from eastern Pennsylvania to New York City,” state Assistant Transportation Commissioner Charles Edson said.

Mountain of Debris

The fire, fueled by a 25-foot-high, 400-yard-long mountain of construction debris, started about 1:30 a.m. in the heavily industrialized area not far from Newark International Airport. It burned all day and buckled the steel beams underpinning a 1,000-square-foot elevated section of the highway, officials said. No injuries were reported.

“Unless we can get a bulldozer under there to pull that stuff out, it’s going to have to burn itself out,” said Larry Krieger, a spokesman for the Newark Fire Department. “It could burn until Wednesday, at least.”

Smoke poured through cracks measuring from 5 to 8 inches wide in the highway during the day.

Officials said commuters knew about the fire at Hub Recycling Co. 2 miles from downtown Newark early enough to find alternative means of getting to and from work, and serious traffic problems did not develop.

Some businesses chose to move workers out of buildings in direct line of the smoke.

Interstate 78 links points west to the busy New Jersey Turnpike, which leads into New York City and handles Interstate 95 traffic.

Kean said he was not sure how long it would take to repair the highway.