OAKLAND, Calif. – A stretch of highway near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed Sunday morning after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames, a loss that officials said could leave freeways leading to one of the nation’s busiest spans in near paralysis at rush hour.
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 to buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt, leading to the collapse, the California Department of Transportation said.
The truck’s driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns.
Authorities said the damage could take months to repair and that it would cause the worst disruption for Bay Area commuters since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged a section of the Bay Bridge itself.
Nearly 75,000 vehicles use 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 bridge into San Francisco each day.
Transportation officials said they already had added trains to the Bay Area Rapid Transit light rail system that takes commuters across San Francisco Bay, and were urging people to telecommute if possible.
State officials said motorists who try to take alternate routes today instead of relying on public transportation would face nightmarish commutes.
The tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline ignited after crashing into a pylon on the interchange, which connects westbound lanes of Interstate 80 to southbound I-880, on the edge of downtown Oakland about half a mile from the Bay Bridge’s toll plaza.
A preliminary investigation indicated the driver may have been speeding, Cross said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
