Some people watch plants grow. Some, presumably, actually do watch paint dry. Others like to listen while people eat.
On a totally unrelated note: Thousands of you, at any given moment, are apparently watching the livestream of I-95 repair in Northeast Philadelphia, a process that will likely take weeks or months.
A section of the interstate collapsed Sunday, after a tanker truck caught fire underneath, killing the truck’s driver and crippling one of the East Coast’s major arteries.
On Thursday morning, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation began a 24/7 livestream of the interstate repair: a first for the agency, a spokesperson said.
The feed of the bridge repair has become, perhaps improbably, quite popular.
When I say “you” are watching, I also mean me. I can’t stop tuning in.
Right now, as I type these words, a tab on my computer is tuned to grainy footage of three guys in raincoats walking toward an aerial work platform.
At one point Thursday afternoon, more people watched a group of PennDOT construction workers stand near a big digger than were tuned in to a YouTube livestream of the Denver Nuggets victory parade.
The next afternoon, footage of a rained-out freeway construction site handily bested the number of viewers for CBS News’ YouTube Live feed of a Texas tornado.
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More:Watch the I-95 livestream as crews make repairs to collapsed highway in Philadelphia
Initially, many were skeptical anyone would want to watch a slow-moving interstate construction project.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the construction feed at an onsite media conference Wednesday, saying that the 24/7 live feed of road construction would “chart our progress and give everyone a sense of timing as we move forward.”
The notion of a live construction feed quickly became an object of both bemused fascination and open mockery. Who would ever watch?
“Getting the girls together for drinks and a watch party,” laughed one Twitter user.
Another commenter sarcastically mused that the gripping footage of men in hardhats talking to other men in hardhats would make for a good date night.
The Pennsylvania governor, for his part, remained steadfast in his belief that the people of the Delaware Valley would love to watch concrete harden.
“Turn it on in the background. You won’t regret it,” he wrote on Twitter.
And, well: The governor has been proven correct. We watched. So far, few have expressed regrets.
Since a few hours after going live, at least 2,000 people have been watching the construction livestream each time we’ve checked in during daylight hours. The highest viewership has been a little more than 3,300.
These are hardly Super Bowl numbers, but they are, at least, Denver Nuggets victory parade livestream numbers. They’re enough to count as a shared experience.
The I-95 rebuild video has become a font for meditation, a clock by which to follow the city and the weather.
A colleague in our Delaware newsroom, after a rainstorm hit Wilmington, turned on the I-95 construction feed to see whether the rain had yet hit Philadelphia.
Others have taken to using it as a constant background, like a screen showing a roaring fireplace or the waves of the ocean.
“The I-95 stream is very relaxing to have on at work. All the little construction workers are in my second monitor like it’s an aquarium or maybe an ant farm,” wrote Twitter user @dew_doer on Friday. He then realized it was an experience he wanted to share with others, in real time.
“I’m sure I’m not the first person to suggest it,” he wrote. “But the stream needs a chat.”
Some parents, especially, quickly found a use for the footage when the livecam launched: babysitting device.
“Attention for everybody with a toddler: Pennsylvania has bought you a few hours of peace by installing a webcam,” wrote a Twitter user named. Col. Boozy Badger.
And, of course, the highlight videos are already rolling in after the first day.
A sped-up video from user “I-95 Muse,” purporting to be sponsored by Four Seasons Total Landscaping, offers the biggest digging from the big diggers, the fastest trucks, the best hypothetical Phillies commentary from onsite construction workers. (Note: A couple NSFW words, here.)
Anyway, the I-95 livestream is still playing on my laptop as I type. The rain has now stopped, and a long piece of fabric is fluttering in the breeze, hanging from the rim of the ruined Interstate. A mobile worker platform is at rest.
Eight or 10 men in yellow keep walking back and forth between various big machines, for reasons that remain mysterious. There’s some kind of gunk on the camera lens. And I-95 remains broken, closed between the Castor and Cottman Avenue exits.
But something is happening. Collectively, we can see it. More than 3,000 of us are watching it together.
And we know that someday, someday maybe soon, we will all have the chance to be angry at I-95 traffic again, at the bend in the freeway where the traffic jams never stop.
Matthew Korfhage is a Philadelphia-based reporter for USA Today Network. Feel free to tell him why you’re watching the I-95 rebuild video at mkorfhage@gannett.com.
