[downtownserg89]

i read a bulletin that some dude on myspace posted, but he always lies so i don't know, i gotta get the real deal from SSP!

[downtownserg89]

hmmm, i guess it did happen. that sucks! :(



(CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) OAKLAND A tanker truck exploded early Sunday morning on the connector ramp from westbound Interstate-80 to Interstate-580 eastward, causing the upper deck of the ramp to collapse onto the lower deck.

The stretch of roadway connects the highways to the Bay Bridge, but a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said traffic continued to flow on to the bridge.

As of 5:15 a.m., the California Highway Patrol had reopened northbound I-880 to eastbound I-80. Still closed throughout the morning were westbound I-80 to eastbound I-580, southbound I-880 and westbound I-580 to I-80 east and west.

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

The oil tanker had exploded and triggered a fire at 3:42 a.m. on the section of freeway known as the MacArthur Maze. The Oakland Fire Dept. said the blaze had been extinguished by about 5:50 a.m.

Firefighters had to contend with extreme heat in battling the blaze; that heat was blamed for causing the connector collapse.

San Jose-based structural engineer John Coyle said the intense heat likely compromised the integrity of the steel that supported the connector ramp, causing it to melt.

Damage to the freeway was extensive and estimated to be in the millions of dollars, Oakland Fire Battlion Chief Mike Miller said. The CHP said it could be days, if not months, before traffic resumed as usual on the damaged stretch of road.

The driver of the tanker was hospitalized, suffering from second degree burns. No other injuries were immediately reported.

[MrMetropolitan]

si

[rs913]

Some of the comments on SFGate's blog suggest this could be a really big nightmare for the Bay Area, as many of the maze connections have been rendered useless and traffic was already bad there to begin with. I hope it's not as bad as predicted. It'll depend on how the transit agencies can respond.

[fflint]

Not *all* MacArthur Maze connectors are down, rs913.

Closed due to collapse:
*The connector for traffic coming off the Bay Bridge and onto 580;
*The connector for traffic coming from 80 out of Emeryville and onto 880 toward downtown Oakland.

Open:
*The connector for traffic coming off the Bay Bridge and onto northbound 80
*The connector for traffic coming off the Bay Bridge and onto 880
*The connector for traffic coming from 580 onto the Bay Bridge
*The connector for traffic coming from 580 to northbound 80
etc.

[sbarn]

BAD news for commuters...

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/mn_highway_collapse_wxs101.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/ba_freewaycollapse_155.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/ba_freewaycollapse_201.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/mn_highway_collapse_caoak101.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/ba_freewaycollapse020_la.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/ba_freewaycollapse039_la.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/04/30/ba_freewaycollapse_246.jpg

[sbarn]

double post

[BigKidD]

This is not at all good for traffic. And Caltrans has stated that it could take months to fix. Also, I was thinking the same thing this guy stated in the SF Chronicle story,
"Coming home is going to be a big big problem," said Geronimo, who commutes to work in San Francisco as draftsman. "Do you know how many terrorists are looking at this? They're getting ideas."

[Web]

on the terrorists getting ideas........thats like saying the movies are helping them think of ideas......

end rant.....

[slaiguy]

Maybe this will force people to actually use public transportation instead of driving into SF to work, they could take BART of the Ferries

[Reminiscence]

Oh dear, this is not good news for me, I'm set to arrive back in the Bay Area on Friday via Oakland Inter. Plus we're going to Vegas via I-580 in a couple weeks, what a time for something like this. :(

Maybe this will force people to actually use public transportation instead of driving into SF to work, they could take BART of the Ferries

If history is any indication, people's use of public transportation should see a sharp jump, but decline once again when the ramps are repaired.

[BTinSF]

Whoa. I came into town on the Bay Bridge from 580 last night (and hope I can leave that way in the fall)--get going CalTrans!

[Reminiscence]

^^^

You got lucky :P

I wonder how this will test my parents and I commuting to and from SF. Hopefully they have all that stuff cleared up by Friday, sigh.

[sf_eddo]

My god, that road just looks... *melted*

[downtownserg89]

dude those pictures look so horrible. i wonder how long it'll take for them to have it fixed and fully functional again. :shrug:

[aufbau]

That's intense for sure. We had a major segment of a railroad trussle burn down in Sac a while back and though not exactly the same, I hope this road can be put back up with similar speed and efficiency, for the sake of all those commuters.

I wonder how hot that fire got to do that kind of damage? i've never seen such a thing

[Reminiscence]

I was thinking somewhere around 7 - 9 months. I'm curious as to what CalTrans plans on doing for a bypass or alternate route for 300,000+ cars using that maze daily.

[rs913]

was thinking somewhere around 7 - 9 months. I'm curious as to what CalTrans plans on doing for a bypass or alternate route for 300,000+ cars using that maze daily.

Grand Ave. in West Oakland and Powell St. in Emeryville are going to be jammed like crazy. That's where everyone trying to get from the bridge to 580 or 24 east will have to go. Coming off the bridge, your only options are 80 north and 880 south, and those two streets are the first exits, I believe...

[fflint]

*The fire got to about 2,700 degrees
*75,000 daily commuters use the closed ramps

[BTinSF]

:yes: B.A.R.T.:worship:

[What is a Rivercat?]

The state should pay UP to fix it - it'd be ready in two weeks

[botoxic]

For commuters heading from the Bay Bridge towards 580 East or 24, I would think taking 880S to 980 back up to 580 would work - that's what I'm planning to try tomorrow. I drive in that direction in the mornings (against traffic and at 6 a.m.), so it shouldn't be a problem.

Commuters trying to get from 80W to 880S should be able to take 580 to 980 back down to 880. It will be a mess, but there are alternate routes that don't involve side streets.

[EastBayHardCore]

those pics w/ the melty road remind me of dali paintings.

[rs913]

YouTube footage! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tjs5ILNkJc)

[Reminiscence]

Great news for commuters:

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/469/rampaccidentdi7.jpg

Free transit offered to lure commuters away from destroyed highways

Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, April 29, 2007

-- SAN FRANCISCO --

Rides on all Bay Area transit lines - including BART, AC Transit and the region's ferries -- will be free Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today, following the collapse of part of the MacArthur Maze.

Officials are scrambling to figure out ways to ease the impact on the region's roads after the accident, which occurred when a tanker truck carrying gasoline exploded around 3:45 a.m. and collapsed the connector to Interstate 580 from the Bay Bridge. The highway crashed down and landed onto the roadway that connects I-80 to I-880 and downtown Oakland, decimating two major interchanges in one of the Bay Area's busiest corridors.

Some of the region's largest transit agencies said today that they would also enhance service on Monday in hopes of giving drivers alternative ways to work.

BART announced that it would run longer trains all day Monday, which are expected to increase capacity by about 50 percent on the regional system. There will be no additional parking at BART stations, a spokesman said, but the agency will add several trains during the morning and evening commutes.

The Alameda/Oakland Ferry will also add a boat to double its service from the East Bay to downtown San Francisco. Spokesman Ernest Sanchez said the agency will double its capacity and speed up service by having one boat running directly from Jack London Square in Oakland to the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco, and another going from Alameda to San Francisco.

Normally, one boat goes from Oakland to Alameda, then to San Francisco. Sanchez said the schedule will remain the same.

AC Transit also plans to add extra buses that will go from San Francisco to the East Bay during the evening commute hours, a spokesman said.

Municipal Transportation Agency chief Nathaniel Ford said Muni would add service to connect Muni to other agencies if needed.

Most other transit agencies said they did not immediately plan to increase service but would work together this week to adjust to whatever needs arise.

Any future decisions will depend upon how commuters react to the changes, officials said.

"We need to see what happens," said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission. "As a consequence of the ripple effect through much of the region, this will be an enormous challenge for the transportation system."

Caltrans has already hired a demolition contractor to raze the section of damaged roadway, and has engineers working on the design aspect. Officials expect any fix to take weeks, but Caltrans director Will Kempton refused to estimate exactly how long at a news conference today.

People headed to Warriors and A's games were told to expect delays, but several tailgaters said this afternoon that their drive to Oakland was a breeze.

Mark Schilling, a certified public account from San Francisco, said it normally takes him 45 minutes to get from his home to the Oakland ballpark. Today, he and his 5-year-old daughter arrived in only 15 minutes.

"It was unbelievable, the first time there's been no traffic -- ever. I've never seen the bridge so empty," he said.

Ed and Mary Lane of Pinole agreed. The couple has been tailgating for 20 years and went out of their way to avoid the maze, detouring through Orinda on Highway 24 then back to I-880.

The detour took them an extra 30 minutes, they said, but the roads were pretty empty.

"I think a lot of people heard the talk about the freeway collapse and were scared off," Ed Lane said.

Detour signs have been placed along West Grand Avenue, one of the Oakland city streets being used to reroute drivers around the disaster.

Jim Allison, a spokesman for BART, said the agency is asking riders who can tweak their work schedule do so.

"Ride early or late, avoid the peak of rush hour," he said. "Many people may choose not to go to work or to drive in at 3 a.m. The good thing is that our system can count down to each and every person who rides day to day (and we can adjust service from there)."

Getting to BART may be half the battle, Allison said. Officials expect parking to be in high demand and are urging East Bay riders to use public transit, or get dropped off.

AC Transit has already rerouted buses heading over the Bay Bridge, said spokesman Clarence Johnson. The vehicles will exit on 12th Street in Oakland and run along Market Street, using the West Grand Avenue approach to the bridge, according to Johnson.

Allison said that BART riders who live in areas such as Fremont or Hayward could also drive across the San Mateo Bridge or Dunbarton Bridge to access Peninsula BART stations with free parking. Those stations include Millbrae, South San Francisco and San Bruno.

Officials at the Golden Gate Bridge District, the agency that oversees the bridge as well as Golden Gate Ferry service, said North Bay commuters who need to get to the East Bay can take ferries into San Francisco, then connect to BART there.

Spokeswoman Mary Currie said officials at the agency are waiting to see how commuters react before making any major changes on the bridge or to ferry service.

"We expect to see heavier traffic in the afternoon (on Monday)," she said. "The bottom line is we have six lanes (on the bridge) and we can adjust those if we need to."

Normally, there are three northbound and three southbound lanes during the afternoon commute, she said, but the agency could route four in the northbound direction if they determine there is a large increase in drivers leaving the city.

Currie encouraged people to use the agency's Sausalito ferry. The Larkspur ferry is already near capacity on most weekdays. There also is little available parking at the Larkspur station -- it normally fills up by around 10 a.m. -- but commuters can carpool to the Sausalito location and pay to park there, Currie said.

The agency runs more than 40 ferries a day from the North Bay to San Francisco and back.

The district is considering the possibility of adding ferry service or looking to expand parking at some facilities in the future, but will not make any changes on Monday, she said.

Caltrain and SamTrans have no plans at this time to adjust their schedules, a spokesman said. Officials for Vallejo Baylink Ferry could not immediately be reached for comment.

BART will reassess its plan after Monday's commutes, Allison said.

"I think we're primarily interested in getting a plan in place for tomorrow, then we will be talking to other transit agencies, particularly in terms of the long term. If this is something that's going to be weeks, we will see what we can do to create more parking, for instance."

There are no plans to extend BART hours, he said.

Sanchez, the spokesman for the Alameda Oakland Ferry, said the agency will also be monitoring the situation and will adjust as needed.

"Based on past experience, and that bridge is still open, we are not really expecting too much (impact)," he said. "We have free parking at both East Bay locations, so we should be OK there, but we will see what happens, and if need more we have more."

Johnson said AC Transit, like most of the region's transit agencies, doesn't have a large stock of extra buses or extra personnel that can be mobilized in emergencies.

"We'll have to figure out what we can do with our existing personnel," he said. "It's not an easy thing for us to do, but we'll do whatever we can. We have past emergencies to draw from that we can go back and see what worked and what didn't."

But Johnson and Allison said AC Transit, BART and other transit agencies are already discussing ways to coordinate their activities and work together as they did after the 1989 collapse of the Cypress Freeway structure following the Loma Prieta earthquake.

"Transportation, period, is so fragile," Johnson said. "If one network goes down, it's tough for other agencies to pick up that burden. Even for a collaboration of agencies it's hard for all the agencies to figure out a plan."

Carpooling will help ease the burden for all travelers, Goodwin said.

"It's incumbent on all of us to get more capacity with fewer vehicles, because the capacity to move vehicles has been slashed," he said.

Local cities were also scrambling to asses the potential impact on their city streets and services.

Caltrans officials are working with Oakland city officials to devise a plan for rerouting traffic, said spokesman Bob Haus.

"We want to make sure everyone's on board before we do anything," he said.

Across the Bay, San Francisco officials are also pondering how to deal with the impact on city streets.

"It looks like it's going to be a situation that will take a couple months to remedy,'' said Nate Ballard, spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom.

City officials are expecting increased traffic congestion on San Francisco roads leading to the Bay Bridge. One option they're looking at is increasing casual carpool pick-up points in downtown San Francisco, such as was done in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

Police Chief Heather Fong said the department will work with Muni to support the expansion of casual carpools. Ford, the MTA chief, said Department of Parking and Traffic officers would be also working with police Monday to ensure traffic is moving on and off the Bay Bridge in the city.

"I think tomorrow's really the acid test," said Goodwin. "At that point we'll see where there are holes that need to be plugged and get a better sense on how to plug them."

[slaiguy]

If your from the Tri-Valley (Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore, San Ramon) you could just take 880 South and then hook into 238 to hit 580 if you wanted to avoid the craziness that Oakland and Emeryville will be come monday

[netdragon]

I was thinking somewhere around 7 - 9 months. I'm curious as to what CalTrans plans on doing for a bypass or alternate route for 300,000+ cars using that maze daily.

I heard they were going to work quickly to expand access for ferries and BART.

[Reminiscence]

I heard they were going to work quickly to expand access for ferries and BART.

Typically, the best you can really do is expand service in the public transportation sector. BART is going to implement longer trains to increase capacity, and the Alameda/Oakland ferry is adding an extra boat to double its service to SF.

Monday will prove as a test to see just how much traffic is affected during a work commute day.

[pdxstreetcar]

so who pays for the damage for something like this?

i'd be surprised if the trucker's insurance company did

[fflint]

THE MAZE MELTDOWN:
Business impact: Commutes will slow, but truckers can use alternative routes

Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, April 30, 2007

With freeway interchanges reduced to rubble at a crucial nexus near the Bay Bridge, what kind of hit will the Bay Area economy take?

Remarkably little, according to economic experts.

"It's going to be miserable for commuters, but in terms of potential jobs lost (or other economic harm), the impact will not be significant because the actual highways themselves were not shut down and direct access to the ports in San Francisco and Oakland is not affected," said Kevin Klowden, managing economist at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica.

Klowden and others said the business fallout from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was much more severe. The temblor caused damage throughout the Bay Area and shut down a major artery -- the Bay Bridge -- as well as other freeways and roads such as the Cypress Structure and the Embarcadero Freeway.

"This is different than Loma Prieta," said Terry Connelly, dean of the business school at Golden Gate University. "This is focused on one joint -- say you've broken your hip but not your hip, elbow, arm and vertebrae, so there is more room to maneuver."

A key for the local economy is the ability to move goods around the region. Anything that impacted the Port of Oakland, which handles 99 percent of the cargo containers arriving in the Bay Area from sea, clearly would have major consequences. But the port, located next to Interstate 880 south of where the accident occurred, is not likely to suffer.

"We don't anticipate this will have a major impact on our business," said Marilyn Sandifur, a spokeswoman for the Port of Oakland, the nation's fourth-busiest seaport. "There are about 1,500 truckers who serve the port area daily. Truckers are very familiar with freeway routes in and out of the port; they will be able to navigate freeway changes better than anyone else because of their expertise."

The biggest impact, she said, is that truckers are likely to encounter more traffic congestion as Bay Area drivers seek alternative routes around the crumpled interchange.

"There won't be an issue in terms of the truckers having access to the port," Sandifur said. "What will be an issue is added drive time."

That could add incremental costs onto goods being transported, but that dollar impact is not readily quantifiable.

"Delays are hard to measure," Klowden said. "The longer the (interchanges) remain closed, the longer the cumulative impact of delays to freight movements in and out of San Francisco and Oakland will accumulate."

Several business leaders said Sunday's disaster draws attention to important holes in the region's transportation infrastructure.

"Every time we have a crisis, it becomes obvious we should be moving people across the bay" via ferries, said Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a public-private partnership. "Instead of being a chasm that separates us, the bay should be a corridor that unites us."

John Grubb, vice president of the Bay Area Council, a business group representing the nine-county region, agreed.

"This points out how much we rely on one system (freeways)," he said. "We believe we need a more robust ferry system that could come into play and help keep the economy running and people moving."

Joe Haraburda, president and CEO of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said the interchange collapse highlights another transit area that needs improvement.

"The whole goods-movement issue for the region and the significance of our ports is accentuated at a time like this," he said. "We've got to keep those goods rolling, and the sooner we can improve our ability to do that by rail, the better."

[TWAK]

I have a friend that is going to be flying into oakland. I'm gonna get them to use the airbart and take bart to pleasant hill, but on the way back i think will be a red eye flight so I will have to drive. Is it possible to take 80 to get to the airport?

[fflint]

TWAK, you won't be able to transition from 80 to 880. That is one of the destroyed connectors. You'd have to detour like everyone else.

[rs913]

Should be pretty easy, though. If you're coming from Pleasant Hill, you won't even use 80 at all, you'll just come in on 24 to 980 to 880. If you're coming from Berkeley or somewhere along 80, you can't go straight to 880, but you can easily just go to 580, then 980, then 880...which is no longer than the original route.

[fflint]

THE MAZE MELTDOWN: COPING
COMMUTE: Monday was easy -- but that won't last, experts say

John King, Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Bay Area residents adapted nimbly on Monday in response to the Sunday collapse of a 170-foot-long section of the MacArthur Maze -- but with closures and detours likely to last for months, transportation experts say conditions will get worse before they get better.

"The reality of life will catch up with us later in the week," predicted Metropolitan Transportation spokesman Randy Rentschler. "The fact is, 80,000 commute trips need to be changed. ... There's going to be a whole lot more surface traffic through Oakland, no question."

On Monday, many commuters who pass through the maze on the way to work seemed either to take mass transit, or take the day off.

Traffic was relatively light on Bay Area roadways during both the morning and evening commutes, including the Bay Bridge. And though buses, ferries and BART all were running for free, transit systems reported no surge in passengers.

"It was lighter this morning than usual, I thought," said Cynthia Ramos of Oakland, who commutes to San Francisco from the Rockridge station. "This morning I saw the freeway was lighter, too ... I think the impact is going to hit later this week."

As an incentive to lure people out of their cars on Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized state funding to provide free rides on Bay Area transit systems. But that incentive -- which came with an estimated cost of $2.5 million -- lasted just one day. For now, there are no plans to extend the fare-free days.

Nor are officials using Monday's easy commute as a barometer for what's to come. Dire warnings of clogged roads and crowded transit because of the freeway collapse probably scared people into changing their habits Monday, officials speculate. This made the smooth traffic an anomaly more than anything else, they said.

"By no stretch of the imagination does anyone believe that we're out of the woods,'' San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said at a City Hall press conference.

One transportation consultant said the real grind for Bay Area commuters will be the next few weeks -- after the novelty of the changes wears off, but before schools close and summer vacations begin.

"If we can limp along and hold things together for a month, traffic volumes naturally will be lower" during the summer, said Bonnie Nelson of Nelson/Nygaard, a San Francisco-based transportation consulting firm.

The next challenge, she warned, will be after Labor Day, "when people are back from their vacations. If the system isn't back to normal by then, there will be a strain."

The downed ramps especially hinder commuters heading from San Francisco into central Contra Costa County. Drivers have no option but to leave the freeway system to reach eastbound Highway 24 -- exiting Interstate 80 at either the West Grand Avenue or using south Interstate-880 to the Broadway/Alameda exit and then navigating surface streets.

Detours will be awkward and slow, Rentschler said, but drivers will adjust.

"Traffic will spread out as need be," Rentschler said. "This is two ramps. This is not a whole freeway system, and we don't have a bridge closure."

On Monday, the light volume of cars made for surprisingly easy flows in all directions.

In the East Bay, drivers reported finding few problems with a detour around the Maze.

"It's no problem right now -- not today, that's for sure, It's really well laid out,'' said Norman Low.

Riders on AC Transit reported that buses were less full than on a normal workday, while BART operated smoothly with increased numbers of riders dispersed among the extra cars and train routes added for the day.

BART riders said trains were full, but not uncomfortably so -- partly because the system was prepared to handle additional riders.

"We added four extra trains today from San Francisco to the East Bay, and we are running longer trains between Fremont and Richmond,'' said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

According to Allison, the morning and evening commutes were extended by workers changing their habits -- leaving home earlier than usual and boarding BART trains later.

"We're spreading things out,'' he said. "That's good for everybody.''

Caltrans head Will Kempton said Bay Area transit agencies will continue to commit greater resources "to alleviate congestion on the affected routes."

But there's a limit to what transit agencies can do.

For instance, BART intends to keep providing a higher level of service from eastern Contra Costa. But the parking at stations along the Pittsburg/Bay Point line already fills up by 8 a.m. on most weekday mornings, Allison said.

"The biggest problem for BART will be parking capacity," said transportation consultant Nelson.

This pinch was felt on Monday by Nancy DalBello, who commutes to San Francisco from Pleasant Hill.

"My train wasn't crowded but I saw the difference in the parking garage -- it was much fuller than on a typical day," DalBello said as she waited for a train to take her home. "I'll probably be leaving earlier for work from here on."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average number of vehicles per day

Bay Bridge: 280,000

I-580 junction with I-80/I-880: 203,000

Highway 24 junction with I-580: 144,000

San Mateo Bridge: 93,000

Dumbarton Bridge: 81,000

Note: 2004 figures

Sources: Caltrans, Chronicle reporting, Associated Press, ESRI, TeleAtlas, USGS

[fflint]

Freeway meltdown may burn business
First month expected to be toughest in S.F.

Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 1, 2007

On the first business day after the East Bay freeway collapse, spa manager Milana Buzzoni received a couple of calls from clients who wanted to reschedule their appointments at the Flying Beauticians on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco.

Buzzoni said she wasn't worried -- at least not yet.

"As long as it doesn't take 10 years to fix," she said of the efforts to repair the connector to the Interstate 80, I-880 and I-580 freeways, which was damaged when a gasoline tanker exploded early Sunday morning. "If it's a month to a month and a half, I'm sure everybody will find a way."

There were plenty of signs that some people stayed home Monday. Garages in the city were significantly less full than usual, although some of the decrease was undoubtedly due to free rides on BART. The Fifth Street and Mission garage and the Union Square garage on Post Street both reported a 20 percent decline in cars seeking parking spots.

Other businesses also noticed a drop in foot traffic on Monday as East Bay residents opted to stay away from the city in order to avoid congestion on the roadways.

"It's still very inconvenient for some people," said Jila Noora, who was seating people for lunch Monday at Bistro 69 on Maiden Lane in San Francisco. "Overall, I think it has a negative impact. How much, it's too early to say."

Kent Sims, a local economist, said most businesses will feel the pain in the first month, when confusion is at its highest and workarounds are at their lowest. It will take at least that long for commuters to figure out the best routes in and out of the city and whether the journey is worth it.

He said businesses that rely on local patrons, tourists or conventioneers need not worry so much because their clientele is already in San Francisco. But businesses that cater to commuters might have to deal with them leaving the city early or not coming in at all because they would rather not put up with the traffic heading home.

After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, many people in the East Bay stayed put and shopped in their own communities, giving businesses there a boost at the expense of businesses in San Francisco.

According to a 1990 survey by the San Francisco Economic Development Corp., the two leading reasons for decreased trips to the city for shopping and recreation were parking and "the length and difficulty of the trip." Another major reason was that "same opportunities available locally."

"The destruction to the freeway system gave people outside of San Francisco a reason to find somewhere else to shop and dine for quite a period of time," said Linda Mjellem, executive director of the Union Square Association.

But Mjellem said she does not expect a repeat of those patterns as a result of Sunday's freeway collapse, given the scale of the damage.

"It definitely will not compare with Loma Prieta in terms of impact," she said.

Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, expects the impact on business to be short-lived.

"I think there'll be a little bit of a blip, but there's lots of ways to get around the collapse," he said.

Westlye added that restaurants in San Francisco may even benefit from commuters who decide to linger in the city longer to wait out the peak traffic congestion.

Many retailers and restaurant owners expect things to return to normal once people adjust to the traffic patterns while the roads are being repaired.

"People are resilient and they come back," said Sharmon Spector, owner of Britex Fabrics on Geary Street in San Francisco, whose business suffered a financial blow after Loma Prieta.

Spector said her store may lose some customers who simply want to avoid the inconvenience stemming from freeway reconstruction, but her core customers will stay loyal.

"The people who really want to come will find a way to come in," she said.

[Web]

I have no idea why all the hype......only 2 connectors are affected.......

San Francisco still has 80 completely open and west 80 to south 880 also

Newcasters are dolts.....bring back the walter cronkites please

.....bubbleheaded bleach blondes........is correct

[fflint]

The roadways used by 80,000 daily commuters are closed. That's the equivalent of every daily commuter using the train systems in Salt Lake City, Cleveland and St. Louis combined.

[Reminiscence]

Talk about timetable pressure ... :

Contractor to get 50 days for I-580 fix
Caltrans will choose winning bid Monday

Michael Cabanatuan and Paul Feist, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, May 4, 2007

The collapsed section of Interstate 580 will be rebuilt and reopened to traffic within 50 days under a Caltrans plan to speed up repairs on the MacArthur Maze, officials announced Thursday.

Nine construction companies have been given the weekend to prepare proposals to do the work, which Caltrans Director Will Kempton said should cost less than $20 million. Caltrans will choose one of the companies by Monday evening, rushing a bidding process that normally would take months.

The firms must repair the collapsed freeway by June 29 or face $200,000 a day in penalties from the state. But should they finish the work ahead of schedule, they'll earn a $200,000-a-day bonus for each day they were ahead of the deadline, Kempton said.

"There is absolutely no question in my mind that any incentives paid to achieve early opening is money well spent,'' he said at a news conference in Sacramento.

The clock starts running Tuesday morning, Kempton said, and the contractor is expected to start work immediately.

The connector ramp from the Bay Bridge to eastbound I-580 collapsed Sunday morning after a gasoline truck crashed on the connector below between I-80 and southbound I-880. The resulting fire heated the steel holding up the I-580 connector overhead, causing it to warp and pull away from the support beams, Caltrans officials said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that the I-880 connector will reopen in about a week. However, rebuilding the I-580 connector will require intermittent nighttime closures of I-880.

"If that has to be done,'' said Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus, "it will be done at night -- definitely not during commute hours.''

Kempton said that the bonus money offered to open the freeway before June 29 is based on what officials estimate the closures are costing the state. Caltrans will pay for the project initially from a highway safety account, but federal officials have said they will reimburse California for the repairs.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, along with other federal officials and members of the Bay Area congressional delegation, will visit the site of the collapse this morning.

Kempton said he did not expect a steel shortage to affect the reconstruction project as officials had feared immediately after the tanker inferno. He said contractors have their own sources for steel and that, based on Caltrans inquiries to suppliers, there should be enough steel available to complete the project on time.

Experts said the aggressive timeline to reopen I-580 is reasonable because the project is relatively straightforward.

"It's not that complex," said Reinhard Ludke, a structural and civil engineer at Creegan + D'Angelo in San Francisco. "They have the original drawings, and there's not much reason to deviate from what they have. They had simple steel spans, so it's easy to replicate what they had before."

The early completion bonus also should help, he said.

"If you give the contractor that incentive, he's going to make at least half a million dollars. He'll get it done two or three days sooner. They did it in L.A. with the I-10 (after the Northridge earthquake). They finished it fast, and they walked away with a couple of million bucks."

At the site of the collapse Thursday, construction crews continued to install falsework -- temporary steel supports that resemble scaffolding -- beneath I-880. That's expected to take until this afternoon. Then they'll begin work on grinding down and repaving the roadway.

The collapse of a vital link in the Bay Area's fragile transportation network has not affected traffic as much as feared earlier in the week, in part because many drivers seem to have made a switch to public transit. But data released Thursday indicated that many drivers have decided to try the Bay Bridge again after several days of using public transit or working from home.

"Slowly folks are trickling back to their cars," said John Goodwin of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. "There is sort of a settling-out process. There was this initial shock and now some people are trying their cars again."

On Wednesday, about 114,622 cars drove across, which is about 11 percent less than most Wednesdays, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. But on Tuesday, traffic was almost 15 percent lower than normal.

It is believed that most former drivers are taking BART or using carpools. BART ridership on Wednesday was about 6 percent above normal.

"A few thousand fewer drivers can really make a big difference," Goodwin said.

[Reminiscence]

Breaking News:

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/2941/i880reopenqz2.jpg

A-Maze-ing
His reputation on the line, contractor finishes repair early, and I-580 opens

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, May 25, 2007

For a man whose confidence in his construction company borders on braggadocio, C.C. Myers was noticeably nervous on the ninth night after he promised to rebuild the fire-damaged MacArthur Maze in just 25 days.

Moments earlier, he had brashly predicted that his company would reopen the Interstate 580 connector a week sooner than his original ambitious prognostication -- and in about one-third of the time forecast by Caltrans.

"Yeah, I'm getting antsy,'' he admitted when asked about a large steel girder that hadn't yet been put into place two hours after the lower Interstate 880 freeway had been closed. "We've got to set four of those tonight."

He picked up his cell phone and bellowed into it as he strode toward the construction crews. About 10 minutes later, crews started lifting the first girder into the gap created when the I-580 connector crumpled in the heat of a gasoline-tanker fire.

Twenty-six days later, I-580 opened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday -- in time for this morning's commute and in line with Myers' prediction.

Nobody had expected such a speedy recovery for the much-maligned maze, an often-congested interchange traveled by 280,000 vehicles every day.

Rebuilding the freeways was not just a highway construction project. With the Bay Area, the construction industry and others across the country watching, it became a race. Winning the race required an uncommon combination of pride, planning, timing and teamwork.

"I expected to get it done fast,'' Myers said before heading home to the Sacramento area the night the first girders were raised, "but not this fast."

So enthusiastic were some drivers about the reopening that they couldn't wait to use the new connector.

Douglas Spalding, 46, a teacher from Oakland, was on his way home Thursday night from Trader Joe's in Emeryville when he heard I-580 was about to reopen. He rushed to the Bay Bridge toll plaza parking lot and cut across to east I-80 so that he could be one of the first drivers across the new connector.

"I go back and forth to the city all the time, so for me it's very convenient,'' said Spalding, who was driving an older model Toyota Corolla wagon.

Well before dawn on April 29, a gasoline tanker truck had crashed on the freeway that connects westbound Interstate 80 to southbound I-880. It burst into flames, and the fireball generated such intense heat that it caused the steel frame supporting I-580 directly above to bend and collapse. It also scarred and damaged I-880.

Both freeway connectors were barricaded, detours were mapped out and marked, and transportation officials and nervous commuters speculated that it could take months to rebuild.

But Caltrans wasn't resigned to that fate. With the smell of smoke still in the air at the maze, design engineers early that Sunday rushed to work at the department's structure design offices in Sacramento and started pulling out old maze plans, viewing the damage on television and the Web and fielding calls from engineers at the site.

"They had a design roughed out within hours -- once they figured out where it happened and what it looked like,'' said Rick Land, Caltrans' chief engineer.

Nothing like the maze

Land, who lives in the Sierra foothills about an hour northeast of Sacramento, has worked 29 years at the state Department of Transportation, all but four of those years on structures -- bridges, overpasses, underpasses, tunnels and the like. California's highways have suffered many disasters, he said, but nothing similar to the maze collapse.

"I've never seen a failure like this,'' he said. "I've seen pictures of it in other states, but we've never had anything like it in California. We've had structures in forest fires or in truck crashes (and fires), but you don't see something like this very often -- at least not in California.''

Less than two days after the I-580 connector collapsed, demolition crews removed the mangled section. A day later, Caltrans engineers clambered over the charred section of I-880, drilling concrete core samples, X-raying parts of the structure and dragging chains over the roadway -- all tests to determine the extent of repairs needed.

The results came back the next day -- the fourth day after the collapse. I-880 had suffered no serious structural damage to the concrete, Caltrans concluded. The freeway connector could be jacked up and supported with temporary braces while workers used a heat-straightening technique to repair warped steel girders underneath. Contractor ACC West completed the work quickly, and I-880 was reopened to traffic after being closed for just eight days.

Meanwhile, back at Caltrans headquarters in Sacramento, the state's top transportation officials were working on a plan to speed the reconstruction of I-580. The challenge, said Land, was: "How quickly could we get it done without compromising quality?"

"We had a lot of conversations about what could go wrong,'' he said. "Once you have that conversation, you can address the requirements and procedure to prevent that from happening.''

$200,000 bonus offer

Caltrans officials worked to speed the process by preparing a list of potential contractors it knew could do the work quickly and by streamlining its process, clearing as much red tape as possible. Then they drew up a contract offering a $200,000 bonus -- with a limit of $5 million -- for each day the work was done in less than 50 days and levying a $200,000 penalty for each day after that deadline.

On May 7, an unseasonably warm day in Sacramento, Caltrans employees, contractors and reporters gathered in the dingy basement of Caltrans headquarters for the opening of the seven bids received. Dale Bonner, the recently appointed secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, announced the Caltrans estimate of $5.2 million, then commenced opening bids.

When he opened the first bid -- $1.1 million -- from California Engineering Contractors, the crowd of about 30 quieted. It turned silent when the fifth bid, from C.C. Myers Inc., came in at $867,075. No one could beat that.

At about 3:30 p.m., Caltrans awarded the contract to C.C. Myers. Myers and Caltrans Director Will Kempton signed the contract, and then Myers turned to several television cameras and promised to complete the job in 25 days -- half of Caltrans' estimate and just in time to collect the full $5 million bonus.

The race to rebuild the maze was on.

Within hours -- some say it was closer to 15 minutes -- Myers had workers on the site of the maze collapse.

Meanwhile, in Lathrop (San Joaquin County), concrete fabrication firm ConFab started building what is essentially a big, rectangular concrete block. The block, filled with steel reinforcement bars and cables, is what's known to road builders as a bent cap -- a 243,750-pound beam that sits atop two columns and supports the frame of the elevated roadway.

While the beam was being built, steel was being rushed from Pennsylvania and Texas to Stinger Welding, a steel fabrication firm in Arizona. Carl Douglas, president of Stinger, found in Pennsylvania the nation's only supply of the 2-inch steel plate needed to make the bottom flange of the steel girders. He found the half-inch and 1-inch steel needed for the rest of the girders in Texas. It was loaded onto trucks with two drivers in each rig so they could make the trips with fewer stops.

Once the steel reached Arizona, Stinger crews began working two 10-hour shifts daily to get the girders built. Caltrans sent inspectors and engineers -- all authorized to make on-the-spot decisions -- to answer questions and ensure the quality of the fabrication, Land said. Caltrans and Stinger agreed to use a more expensive, but faster, style of producing steel girders with the required strength.

"Caltrans came in and put good people in our shop,'' Douglas said. "If there were any problems, we could go to them and get immediate answers. Usually (done by phone, fax or e-mail), it takes weeks. It was a breath of fresh air to have a government agency come in and perform like that."

The first two girders were done on May 14 -- just four days after Stinger started working and seven days into C.C. Myers' contract -- and around noon they were put on trucks bound for the Bay Area.

Workers wrote a message on the side of the girders in chalk: "To the people of Oakland, California, from Stinger Welding, Coolidge, Arizona," and the trucks rolled off, again with two drivers in each rig.

"They're stopping only for fuel and potty breaks,'' Douglas said.

Stinger finished the girders in nine days -- a job that would normally have taken about 45, he said.

The first two girders arrived early on May 15 at ABC Painting, an industrial paint shop on the old Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. Crews blasted the girders with steel grit to rough them up enough to hold a good coat of paint. Then they applied a zinc primer in "Caltrans gray," a sort of greenish gray.

The zinc, explained Eric Jeffress, president of ABC, is a cathodic primer that sacrifices itself to the elements before they can get to the steel. Caltrans usually requires primers to dry for three days, he said, but on this job allowed a one-day drying time.

As the girders were painted, the massive concrete bent cap began making its way from Lathrop on an 18-axle truck. The load was so heavy that the truck wasn't permitted on I-580 over the Altamont Pass and had to use rural roads to get to the Tri-Valley. Still, the bent cap arrived about 15 minutes before Caltrans' scheduled 8 p.m. closure May 15 of the I-880 connector for the installation, and had to wait on the side of Interstate 80 in Berkeley.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the rig pulled onto the closed 880 connector and parked at an angle beneath the two I-580 columns that survived the collapse and needed only minor repairs. After the beam was untied and hooked to lifting cables, a pair of cranes raised it at 8:50 p.m. and had it in place by 9 p.m. Crane operators then dropped large steel "pins" into holes in the bent cap and injected grout to secure the connection.

Crowd watched big event

Dozens of people watched the pivotal event, including a media village that established itself in the dust beneath the maze. Closer to the action, at least 20 engineers, construction workers and Caltrans officials stood and watched.

There was a feeling in the cool night air that if this pivotal part of the job could be done so quickly and seemingly easily, C.C. Myers really could complete the job in 25 days.

"I haven't encountered anything like this,'' said Chris Snyder, a business representative with Operating Engineers Union Local 3, which represents heavy equipment operators and other construction workers. "The whole world is watching to see how fast (C.C. Myers) can do it.''

After the first four girders were lifted into place, two more arrived each subsequent night, and they were put in place without difficulty. As soon as each pair was secured, workers swarmed the steel beams and started installing the wooden forms and steel-reinforcement bar for the concrete roadway. On a typical job, the contractor would wait until the girders were all installed before preparing for the concrete pour, Land said.

"C.C. Myers was very good at coordinating things. They eliminated the transitions, the waiting time,'' he said, mentioning the importance of flexibility on the job.

In another example, instead of requiring the contactor to wait for detailed construction drawings to be approved, Caltrans agreed to let the work start while they were being reviewed. It was a risk for both the contractor and Caltrans, Land said, but was a relatively safe bet "because the work was so straightforward." It ended up saving about five days.

When Caltrans mentioned a willingness to be flexible when it awarded the job, some critics feared it would mean lower standards and inferior quality. In fact, UC Berkeley civil engineering professor Abolhassan Astaneh said Thursday he was not convinced that four concrete columns supporting 580 or 880 could withstand a major earthquake. Instead, they should have been demolished and replaced, he said.

But Land and Peter Strykers, Caltrans senior engineer, said multiple tests were performed on both the surviving structures and the new construction, and they are confident of its safety.

"We didn't cut any corners at all," Strykers said.

In addition to taking core samples of the columns and roadways that survived the inferno and testing them days after the collapse, Caltrans engineers took samples of the concrete from each pour of the deck and walls. Those samples were subjected to crushing tests at the department's Sacramento laboratory to determine their strength.

After curing for 48 hours, the concrete poured on Sunday had already attained the required strength -- 3,500 pounds per square inch -- for the road deck, Land said. But Caltrans wanted it to cure -- beneath burlap and plastic blankets to keep it damp -- for at least 96 hours. The extra time, Strykers said, will prevent cracking.

"Some people think we could have gotten it done a little sooner,'' he said, standing atop the new 580 connector Wednesday evening. "But we want it to be a quality job that will have no maintenance problems for years to come.''

C.C. Myers will collect $5 million in bonus money. The job is estimated to have cost the firm $2.5 million.

But Myers has said this job was not about making a ton of money; it was about pride and reputation. Land agreed.

"It's not about making a huge profit,'' he said. "It's about getting the job done quick and pointing out that you're one of the best contractors in the industry.''

Quick work

26 - Days I-580 was closed

17 - Days it took C.C. Myers to rebuild I-580

96 - Hours of curing time for concrete road deck

200 - Cubic yards of concrete in road deck

35 - Cubic yards of concrete in railing walls

12 - Number of steel girders supporting I-580 connector