Sunday, April 29, 2007

Breaking news in Kalifornia: Calif. Interchange Collapses After Fire


I was unaware of this story...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - An interchange connecting highways to the busy Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a tractor trailer hauling 8,600 gallons of gasoline caught fire, authorities said.

The truck's driver suffered second-degree burns, Officer Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol told KGO-TV.

The tanker ignited after crashing into a pylon on an interchange connecting westbound lanes of Interstate 80, which includes the Bay Bridge, to southbound I-880 in Oakland, officials said.

The fire led to the collapse of a second interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound Interstate 580 located above the first interchange, Cross said.

The Bay Bridge's heavily traveled double decks run about two miles across the San Francisco Bay.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6595702,00.html
Update: Authorities said the accident on a highway interchange could take months to repair, and that it would cause the worst disruption for Bay Area commuters since a 1989 earthquake damaged a section of the Bay Bridge itself.

2 comments:

jan said...

Look what American Thinker is already saying:

April 29, 2007
SF Bay Area traffic nightmare
Thomas Lifson

Terrorists couldn't have picked a better spot. The San Francisco Bay Area faces months of horrible traffic disruption thanks to the explosion of a gasoline tanker truck at one of the worst spots imaginable, the so-called McArthur Maze where the Bay Bridge from San Francisco connects with three freeways taking traffic north, east and south.

jan said...

Power change in Congress takes aim at foreign steel

Bay Bridge replacement project being served up to get protectionist juices flowing Foreign steel hot topic in Congress

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/sanma
teocountytimes/localnews/ci_5779499