[PRCo] 3rd Street

[Fred Schneider]

Jim Holland:

Is there an acceptable way around the East Shore Freeway / I-580  
interchange?

This seems to add a new dimension to being "under insured."

Thank heavens it wasn't farther west where 580 goes over BART at  
MacArthur Station.   That was my first reaction.   At least BART can  
still be hauling people today.   They must be hauling like gang busters.



fws









Bay Area Residents Face Tough Commutes

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer

2 HOURS AGO
OAKLAND, Calif. - San Francisco Bay area residents faced nightmarish  
commutes Monday after one of the region's most traveled sections of  
freeway melted and collapsed following a fiery crash.

An elevated section of highway that carries motorists from the San  
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to a number of freeways was destroyed  
early Sunday after heat from an overturned gasoline truck caused part  
of one overpass to crumple onto another.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Officer Trent Cross of the  
California Highway Patrol. "I'm looking at this thinking, 'Wow, no  
one died' _ that's amazing. It's just very fortunate."

Authorities predicted the crash would cause the worst disruption for  
Bay Area commuters since a 1989 earthquake damaged the Bay Bridge  
itself. The sight of a soaring freeway twisted into a fractured mass  
of steel and concrete was reminiscent of the damage from the Loma  
Prieta quake.

Standing near the wreckage Sunday night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  
vowed that the state would respond quickly to the damage.

Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to speed up cleanup and  
rebuilding efforts. He also authorized free transit Monday on  
ferries, buses and the rail system that takes commuters across the bay.

Transportation officials said it could take months to repair the  
damaged interchanges, and advised motorists to use public  
transportation in and out of San Francisco. They added trains to the  
rail system and said drivers who chose to take alternate routes  
Monday would still face tough commutes.

"People are going to have to find a different way to work and back  
home in the evening, so we are asking them to plan ahead and do their  
homework," said Jeff Weiss, spokesman for the California Department  
of Transportation. "This isn't going to be fixed in a matter of days."

Nearly 75,000 vehicles used the portion of the road every day. But  
because the accident occurred where three highways converge,  
authorities said it could cause commuting problems for hundreds of  
thousands of people. State transportation officials said 280,000  
commuters take the Bay Bridge into San Francisco each day.

Though heat from the fire was intense enough to weaken the freeway  
and damage a 250-foot stretch of highway, the truck's driver walked  
away from the scene with second-degree burns.

James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland, went to a gas station and called a  
taxi, which took him to a hospital, Cross said.

A preliminary investigation indicated Mosqueda may have been speeding  
on the curving road, he said. Mosqueda was being treated in a  
hospital for burns on Sunday; efforts to reach him there were  
unsuccessful.

He was headed from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station near the  
Oakland airport when the accident occurred, according to the patrol.

The crash occurred around 3:45 a.m. on the MacArthur Maze, a network  
of ramps and interchanges at the edge of downtown Oakland and about a  
half-mile from the Bay Bridge toll plaza. Witnesses reported flames  
rising up to 200 feet into the air.

Heat exceeded 2,750 degrees and caused the steel beams holding up the  
interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound Interstate 580 above to  
buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt, leading to  
the collapse, California Department of Transportation director Will  
Kempton said.

The cost of the repairs would likely run into the tens of millions of  
dollars, and the state was seeking federal disaster aid, Kempton said.

Officials said the accident could have been deadly had it occurred at  
a busier time.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the accident showed how fragile  
the Bay Area's transportation network is, whether to an earthquake or  
terrorist attack.

"It's another giant wake-up call," Newsom said.