Bay Bridge entrance "Maze" collapse

[cindysue]

you may have already seen this, but for others:

Roadway to Bay Bridge collapses after tanker explosion

Bay City News

Sunday, April 29, 2007

A tanker carrying unleaded gasoline exploded early this morning, causing 250 yards of roadway to collapse near Emeryville. The driver walked away from the incident and took a taxi to a nearby hospital where he is being treated for second-degree burns, according to the California Highway Patrol.

California Highway Patrol officer Trenton Cross said he believed speed was a factor in the tanker crash, which caused roadway on Interstate Highway 580 at Interstate Highway 80, located near Emeryville to be completely destroyed. The tanker explosion caused the upper deck of a connector ramp to collapse onto the lower deck, according to a California Highway Patrol dispatcher.

Interstate Highway 580 is closed approaching the San Francisco Bay Bridge, according to the dispatcher.

The dispatcher said eastbound Interstate Highway 80 to eastbound Interstate Highway 580 collapsed after heat from the tanker explosion on the westbound Interstate Highway 580 at Interstate Highway 80 rose and melted the upper roadway.

The dispatcher said traffic continues to flow on to the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Travelers wishing to enter San Francisco from the East Bay may take Interstate Highway 80, which remains open.

The dispatcher said there is no word on when the roadway will be open, and it could be days if not months before traffic resumes as usual on this stretch of road.

[Trek420]

I'm thinking BART's going to be a zoo this week. Wonder if there will be room for my bike?

[maillotpois]

Oh my god. This happened less than an hour after I drove right by there (going from 24/580 to 80) on my way home from the ride this morning (yes, at 3 am).

Holy cow.

They closed the part of the road I take to get to work in the morning. This is going to blow chunks.

[ace]

Commuting is going to be painful. Trek, I think you live in Hayward? Is there an AC Transit bus you can take that circumvents the maze? I think most/all the transbay AC Transit buses let you load bikes onto the front rack. I take the Transbay bus to work, and I think it will be ok- it goes via surface streets to Emeryville, then cuts onto the bridge via a bus lane.

www.actransit.org

Glad you're ok, maillotpois! Thank god no one was hurt.

[maillotpois]

So how do I get from Marin to Oakland? Any suggestions? Maybe I should search out that Richmond BART station?

[ace]

Don't know if you're aware of the www.511.org website. It's a warehouse for bay area regional transport. Use the trip planner function to see your options for getting from Marin to Oakland:

http://transit.511.org/tripplanner/index.asp

Hope that helps!

[maillotpois]

Thanks!

[Trek420]

Commuting is going to be painful. Trek, I think you live in Hayward? Is there an AC Transit bus you can take that circumvents the maze? I think most/all the transbay AC Transit buses let you load bikes onto the front rack. I take the Transbay bus to work, and I think it will be ok- it goes via surface streets to Emeryville, then cuts onto the bridge via a bus lane.

www.actransit.org

Glad you're ok, maillotpois! Thank god no one was hurt.

Ace and all, I take BART to work almost each day. That will stay the same, stay tuned as I report if I can fit my bike on the train.

[jobob]

I wouldn't count on it. I've seen BART refuse to let bikes on trains when it's really crowded.

[SadieKate]

They even post the no bike policy during heavy commute hours on their website.

[Trek420]

I wouldn't count on it. I've seen BART refuse to let bikes on trains when it's really crowded.

And I've seen cyclists barge on in anyway...but then if your bike is your transportation what are you going to do? Wait 30-40 minutes till the crowd this out?

Which is my calendar has the A's schedule on it so I try to ride to work when they don't have a game that starts or ends when I leave. Or...just figure out the best route from downtown Oakland to home. Not a whole lot of good choices there, it's between climbing OTR or going through some pretty hairy neighborhoods so I ride 2-3 miles to tkae BART the bulk of the 20.

Hmmmm, might be cool to figure the route home for a just in case scenario.

[maillotpois]

Okay, well I just read the link to the article about the driver and as mad as I am/was, it's actually sad. He had turned his life around and was a pretty good guy. One HUGE mistake, though, and it's all over for him. I'm sure he won't be able to get a good job again, etc.

[maillotpois]

I love CalTrans. I really do!

I just drove to work (Marin to Oakland) for the first time in over a week (actually, although it is my normal commute, the last time I drove on that stretch of freeway was the morning of DMD). They opened the 880 connector so there was no backup at all going 80 to EB 580 to get to Harrison St. It was great!!!

That doesn't mean I am happy about being at work, of course.