brad22
04-29-2007, 07:51 PM
Tommorow is going to be crazy for the east bay :eek:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q51/ba22andy/collapse2_600_.jpg
April 30, 2007
Tanker Truck Fire Collapses Bay Area Overpass
By JESSE McKINLEY and CAROLYN MARSHALL
OAKLAND, Calif., April 29 — A fiery predawn tanker truck accident caused the collapse of a heavily trafficked freeway overpass near downtown on Sunday, sending hundreds of feet of concrete crashing onto a highway below and hobbling a vital Bay Area interchange.
The driver of the truck, which was carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline, was hospitalized with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported from the accident, which occurred at 3:42 a.m.
But even as the fire smoldered, transit officials said the accident could complicate the lives of commuters in both directions for months, raising the specter of circuitous detours to either the south or north.
“It will make for a long trip,” said Will Kempton, the director of Cal Trans, the state transportation agency.
The accident occurred in the heart of an unruly tangle of freeways known as the MacArthur Maze, where several major arteries converge at the approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco with the cities on the east side of San Francisco Bay.
The California Highway Patrol identified the driver as James Mosqueda, 51, from Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento. Officer Trent Cross, a spokesman for the highway patrol, said Mr. Mosqueda had just picked up the gasoline from a refinery and was headed to a gas station near the Oakland airport.
The highway patrol believes that Mr. Mosqueda was heading south on Interstate 80 into an interchange with Interstate 880 when he lost control in a curve, hit a guardrail and flipped the truck on its side. The tanker exploded, which sent flames hundreds of feet into the air, witnesses said. The fire quickly buckled a three-lane section of Interstate 580 and caused it to collapse onto some lanes of Interstate 880 about 30 feet below.
Michael Brown, the commissioner of the highway patrol, said the driver had been able to escape the burning truck, and he apparently took a cab in order to go to the hospital.
Mr. Brown said there was “no indication of impairment of the driver” by drugs or alcohol, but that some legal issues are outstanding for both Mr. Mosqueda, and the truck’s owner, Sabek Transportation, based in San Francisco. He did not elaborate.
Last June, according to records of the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a Sabek tanker truck jackknifed on an Interstate near Vallejo, spilling 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel, which contaminated a creek and vegetation.
For some Bay Area residents, the accident evoked memories of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused the collapse of a mile-long, double-decker section of I-880, near the site of SundayÂ’s accident. That collapse, which occurred during the evening rush hour, resulted in 41 deaths and more than 100 injuries, as cars on the lower level were crushed.
Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who visited the site on Sunday, called the collapse “a giant wake-up call to the region” about what may happen in a major temblor.
“It’s a matter of when not if,” Mr. Newsom said.
This time around, the results were not deadly on I-880, but no less arresting to look at. Dozens of people converged near the collapse site to gawk, and rubbernecking drivers on remaining roadways slowed traffic.
“I was on the road last night, so it’s kind of scary for me,” Anita Myles, 49, an Oakland resident, said as she peered at the damage through a chain link fence.
Another onlooker, James Signore, a civil engineer from Oakland, said he had a professional interest in the damage. “I have not seen this kind of wreckage before,” Mr. Signore, 43, said. “And I’m really curious how something this stout could be taken down.”
He was not the only one wondering how the overpass, which dates to the 1950s, had failed. At a noontime press conference held at a toll plaza near the collapse, Mr. Kempton said the heat from the fireball had most likely melted the steel girders and bolts that supported the concrete roadway. “If you have that kind of heat,” he said, “you’re going to have this kind of reaction. We’re not surprised by this result.”
With a Monday morning rush hour looming, officials said they were trying to assess the damage as fast as possible. Even with fewer cars on a Sunday afternoon, traffic was slow coming off the Bay Bridge into the East Bay, a situation that will no doubt intensify as the workweek begins. On an average day, the two spans that were destroyed on Sunday morning carried 160,000 vehicles, Mr. Kempton said.
Bay Area Rapid Transit, the train system connecting San Francisco and the East Bay, was not affected by the accident but said it would lengthen its trains to accommodate the rush on Monday.
“We would encourage people to stay away from the maze,” Mr. Kempton said. “If experience tells us anything, it will take a day or two to get this sorted out.”
Evaluating the damage will be the first step of a long process. Rebuilding the collapsed section of I-880 took nearly a decade, though Mr. Kempton called that situation “a much larger issue” involving neighborhood and environmental concerns.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized money for ferries, buses and the rail system to carry commuters at no charge during MondayÂ’s commute, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Kempton pleaded for patience, saying with this kind of complex highway system, “You’re not going to have a picnic every day.”
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q51/ba22andy/collapse2_600_.jpg
April 30, 2007
Tanker Truck Fire Collapses Bay Area Overpass
By JESSE McKINLEY and CAROLYN MARSHALL
OAKLAND, Calif., April 29 — A fiery predawn tanker truck accident caused the collapse of a heavily trafficked freeway overpass near downtown on Sunday, sending hundreds of feet of concrete crashing onto a highway below and hobbling a vital Bay Area interchange.
The driver of the truck, which was carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline, was hospitalized with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported from the accident, which occurred at 3:42 a.m.
But even as the fire smoldered, transit officials said the accident could complicate the lives of commuters in both directions for months, raising the specter of circuitous detours to either the south or north.
“It will make for a long trip,” said Will Kempton, the director of Cal Trans, the state transportation agency.
The accident occurred in the heart of an unruly tangle of freeways known as the MacArthur Maze, where several major arteries converge at the approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco with the cities on the east side of San Francisco Bay.
The California Highway Patrol identified the driver as James Mosqueda, 51, from Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento. Officer Trent Cross, a spokesman for the highway patrol, said Mr. Mosqueda had just picked up the gasoline from a refinery and was headed to a gas station near the Oakland airport.
The highway patrol believes that Mr. Mosqueda was heading south on Interstate 80 into an interchange with Interstate 880 when he lost control in a curve, hit a guardrail and flipped the truck on its side. The tanker exploded, which sent flames hundreds of feet into the air, witnesses said. The fire quickly buckled a three-lane section of Interstate 580 and caused it to collapse onto some lanes of Interstate 880 about 30 feet below.
Michael Brown, the commissioner of the highway patrol, said the driver had been able to escape the burning truck, and he apparently took a cab in order to go to the hospital.
Mr. Brown said there was “no indication of impairment of the driver” by drugs or alcohol, but that some legal issues are outstanding for both Mr. Mosqueda, and the truck’s owner, Sabek Transportation, based in San Francisco. He did not elaborate.
Last June, according to records of the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a Sabek tanker truck jackknifed on an Interstate near Vallejo, spilling 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel, which contaminated a creek and vegetation.
For some Bay Area residents, the accident evoked memories of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused the collapse of a mile-long, double-decker section of I-880, near the site of SundayÂ’s accident. That collapse, which occurred during the evening rush hour, resulted in 41 deaths and more than 100 injuries, as cars on the lower level were crushed.
Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who visited the site on Sunday, called the collapse “a giant wake-up call to the region” about what may happen in a major temblor.
“It’s a matter of when not if,” Mr. Newsom said.
This time around, the results were not deadly on I-880, but no less arresting to look at. Dozens of people converged near the collapse site to gawk, and rubbernecking drivers on remaining roadways slowed traffic.
“I was on the road last night, so it’s kind of scary for me,” Anita Myles, 49, an Oakland resident, said as she peered at the damage through a chain link fence.
Another onlooker, James Signore, a civil engineer from Oakland, said he had a professional interest in the damage. “I have not seen this kind of wreckage before,” Mr. Signore, 43, said. “And I’m really curious how something this stout could be taken down.”
He was not the only one wondering how the overpass, which dates to the 1950s, had failed. At a noontime press conference held at a toll plaza near the collapse, Mr. Kempton said the heat from the fireball had most likely melted the steel girders and bolts that supported the concrete roadway. “If you have that kind of heat,” he said, “you’re going to have this kind of reaction. We’re not surprised by this result.”
With a Monday morning rush hour looming, officials said they were trying to assess the damage as fast as possible. Even with fewer cars on a Sunday afternoon, traffic was slow coming off the Bay Bridge into the East Bay, a situation that will no doubt intensify as the workweek begins. On an average day, the two spans that were destroyed on Sunday morning carried 160,000 vehicles, Mr. Kempton said.
Bay Area Rapid Transit, the train system connecting San Francisco and the East Bay, was not affected by the accident but said it would lengthen its trains to accommodate the rush on Monday.
“We would encourage people to stay away from the maze,” Mr. Kempton said. “If experience tells us anything, it will take a day or two to get this sorted out.”
Evaluating the damage will be the first step of a long process. Rebuilding the collapsed section of I-880 took nearly a decade, though Mr. Kempton called that situation “a much larger issue” involving neighborhood and environmental concerns.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized money for ferries, buses and the rail system to carry commuters at no charge during MondayÂ’s commute, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Kempton pleaded for patience, saying with this kind of complex highway system, “You’re not going to have a picnic every day.”