Freeway Collapse in SF Bay Area

[SchoolofSoul]

This happened over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area (on the Oakland side). It is HUGE news there, as it's affecting millions of daily commuters and other area travelers.

Tanker fire destroys part of MacArthur Maze
2 freeways closed near Bay Bridge

At approximately 3 a.m. Sunday, a tanker truck exploded, causing the I-580 freeway to collapse.






(04-29) 18:03 PDT OAKLAND -- Huge leaping flames from an exploding gasoline tanker melted the steel underbelly of a highway overpass in the East Bay's MacArthur Maze early this morning, causing it to collapse onto the roadway below and virtually ensuring major traffic problems for weeks to come.

The elevated roadway that fell carried eastbound traffic from the Bay Bridge onto Interstates 580 and 980 and state Highway 24. It draped like a blanket over a roadway below, a connector from southbound I-80 to I-880 that also was severely damaged.

The single-vehicle crash occurred on the lower roadway when the tanker, loaded with 8,600 gallons of unleaded gasoline and heading from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station on Hegenberger Road in Oakland, hit a guardrail at 3:41 a.m.

Engineers said the green steel frame of the I-580 overpass and the bolts holding the frame together began to melt and bend in the intense heat

-- and that movement pulled the roadbed off its supports.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Trent Cross said the driver of the tanker, James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland (Yolo County), was traveling too fast in a 50 mph zone when his truck overturned and burst into flames.

Mosqueda, an employee of Sabek Transportation in San Francisco for 10 months, got out of the truck on his own after it overturned and hailed a taxi that took him to Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, witnesses and police said.

He has been transferred to the burn unit at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco, where his father said he was "doing OK" this afternoon, having sustained burns on his face, neck and hands. The family expected Mosqueda to remain hospitalized two or three more days.

Cross said Mosqueda had a valid driver's license and there is no indication he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he crashed.

CONTINUED

One of the freeways, I-880 (the lower roadway), is expected to reopen in about 7 to 10 days, but it could be months before the destroyed part of I-580 (the upper roadway which collapsed) is repaired and reopened.

Fortunately, although some surface side streets are seeing huge traffic increases due to detouring, the commuting nightmare that was expected has not (yet) materialized, and the area's BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) System is experiencing record ridership levels.

FULL COVERAGE - SFGate: The Maze Meltdown

[DBlack]

That's crazy! We have an interchange like that in Atlanta (Spaghetti Junction) and if that would have happened here, it would make commutes impassable in through that area.

[goodcookinmama]

Originally Posted by DBlack

That's crazy! We have an interchange like that in Atlanta (Spaghetti Junction) and if that would have happened here, it would make commutes impassable in through that area.

yea that is crazy an i have been through there many times how they getting the people to an fro is a wonder in its self but they working it out an some people say they will continue to use some of the systems that they are using now even after they fix it back

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by DBlack

That's crazy! We have an interchange like that in Atlanta (Spaghetti Junction) and if that would have happened here, it would make commutes impassable in through that area.

Precisely. Traffic on the the 95 is already chaotic. Now, this would be a travesty.

[Sirblackness]

I live in the DC area I hope that never happens around here.

[UglymanCometh]

Yikes!

Reminds me of 1989 and the Nimitz Freeway...