Interstate 95 Lanes Re-open

"The one thing they were saying about Washington is not what the president was doing, not what was happening at the Pentagon, but what was going on at this spot on I-95 because it's a major corridor not just for the Washington area but up and down the East Coast," Townsend said.

Mark Brady of the Prince George's County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said the cause of the tanker fire, whose tall flames spread onto the median and into nearby woods, was unknown. But he said a likely cause was the truck's brakes locking up, overheating and igniting the rubber tire.

Yesterday's weather proved to be rather serendipitous for highway workers. By the time the asphalt was ready to be poured, the temperature climbed higher than 45 degrees, the number needed to lay a permanent layer of pavement.

If the temperature was lower than 45 degrees, as is expected tomorrow and through the weekend, the asphalt would not have held as well, and highway workers would have needed to go back and redo the repaving. Also, the wintertime temperatures helped the asphalt cool quickly.

On a normal day, about 190,000 cars travel the site of the explosion, which is a four-lane stretch of southbound I-95 at Cherry Hill Road, said Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman David Buck. The day before Thanksgiving, that could be up to 250,000 or 300,000 vehicles, Townsend said.

Highway officials said it was fortunate that no one was injured and that the incident occurred before the morning rush began in earnest.

"If it happened at 7 a.m. it would have been much worse," Buck said.

Chew's view of the accident occurring at an auspicious hour: "You really don't know when it's your time."

His wife, Cheryl Chew, said she became concerned yesterday morning at 5:20 when she did not get her regular wake-up call from her husband at their home in Odenton. He calls every morning to make sure she's awake in time to get to her accounting job in the District.

She turned on the TV news and watched in horror as a tanker was engulfed in flames. She was standing mesmerized in front of her TV when the phone finally rang.

"He called and said that he was okay," she said.

After the harrowing experience, the Chews, who are newlyweds, decided to scrap their Thanksgiving plans to go to Harrisburg, Pa., and spend the weekend by themselves celebrating the holiday.

"I am going to cook," Cheryl Chew said.

Staff writers Steven Ginsberg, Joshua Partlow and William Wan and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.