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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.”

707dog
04-29-2007, 08:03 PM
yes the commute tomarrow is going to suck major azz:( ....i drive to south city and my lady drives to hayward...its going to be friggin crazy for along time:devil:

78Anthonyjet
04-29-2007, 08:08 PM
yes the commute tomarrow is going to suck major azz:( ....i drive to south city and my lady drives to hayward...its going to be friggin crazy for along time:devil:
NO CHIT, tommorow afternoons drive home is gonna SUCK AZZ. Dip shit was driving to fast, his company and thier insurance co must be puckering real good right now.
Have a nice drive Dog, yours shouldnt be to bad, your wifes is gonna blow unless the open up S/B 880 right there. I will have to get on S/B 880 and that always sucks.
You going to Berryessa? If so, see you there

QuickJet
04-29-2007, 08:11 PM
I guess Rosie was wrong with the whole fire bringing down steel theory. And I though that fat dyke knew it all. Someone should shoot her witha gun bought from Wal Mart. :mad:

RitcheyRch
04-30-2007, 05:49 AM
Funny you mention that. My Dad was saying the same thing yesterday.
I guess Rosie was wrong with the whole fire bringing down steel theory. And I though that fat dyke knew it all. Someone should shoot her witha gun bought from Wal Mart. :mad:

Hardly Satisfied
04-30-2007, 07:14 AM
watching it on the news wow what a mess. news reports said it will take 2 months to a 1 yr to repair

Sherpa
04-30-2007, 07:20 AM
demo crews are already onsite busting that chit up....... my partner is from
oakville and says that is gonna mess up alot of people...
--Sherpa

brad22
04-30-2007, 08:36 PM
Anybody late to work today??

TUNNEL T
04-30-2007, 09:50 PM
it's not in the direction of going to work it's on the way home. gonna have to pull out all the stops for awhile now ,there saying a year before this can be back to normal! i call B.S. they aint building the bay bridge over again it's just a 1000 ft. only took me another ten minutes on way hom e today! let's see how long that will last .TUNNEL T :D

YeLLowBoaT
04-30-2007, 09:53 PM
arnold said that if public transit will be free for people that are using it to avoid that mess.

QuickJet
04-30-2007, 10:03 PM
Funny you mention that. My Dad was saying the same thing yesterday.
Great minds think alike ;)
watching it on the news wow what a mess. news reports said it will take 2 months to a 1 yr to repair
2 months to a year?? WTF is that all about? Talk about a vauge estimate.
Damn Government!! That's what I'll tell them when I'm supposed to pay my property taxes in November "they'll get it in about 2 months to a year"
http://***boat.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

talkinghead
04-30-2007, 10:52 PM
I'm not surprised this happened, I don't think the police do enough commercial vehicle enforcement in this country - they look the other way IMO. Sure this could of happened anyway, but then again maybe not.
Last week we had the SF incident, a trucker in Indiana plowing into stalled traffic killing 8 and on and on...