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Bay Area Overpass Collapses

Oakland Tanker explosion and fire close busy freeway

By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 30, 2007 5:50 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A speeding 8,600-gallon gas tanker smashed into a guardrail early yesterday on a Bay Area highway, causing a fireball that melted an overpass above it. The driver sustained minor injuries, and no one else was hurt. But the collapsed overpass, which carried traffic eastbound from the Baby Bridge, closed I-880 and I-580 indefinitely.

San Franciscans are gearing up for a commuting nightmare; a transit spokesman predicts "a huge impact on that already congested route." Some witnesses are calling it a wake-up call. "If fire can do that to a steel structure like this, what can the next earthquake do?"

Caltrans inspectors walk past a section of crumbled highway in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that funnels traffic onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. The truck's driver walked away from the scene and...
Caltrans inspectors walk past a section of crumbled highway in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that...   (Associated Press)
A section of highway lies burned and crumbled in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that funnels traffic onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. The truck's driver walked away from the scene and called...
A section of highway lies burned and crumbled in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that funnels traffic...   (Associated Press)
A section of highway lies burned and crumbled in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that funnels traffic onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. The truck's driver walked away from the scene and called...
A section of highway lies burned and crumbled in Emeryville, Calif., after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded on Sunday, April 29, 2007. In the resulting blaze, a section of freeway that funnels traffic...   (Associated Press)
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California • San Francisco • Arnold Schwarzenegger • traffic • commute • Bay Area • overpass • earthquake

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