A major bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area has been closed after large chunks of concrete fell from the upper deck. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that one car was damaged but no injuries were reported.
Full Answer
Why is the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge closed?
The upper deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge closed Thursday morning after a truck's flammable propane tank exploded, triggering solid gridlock traffic, the California Highway Patrol said. All lanes moving westward were blocked on the upper deck as of 8:43 a.m. according to the CHP's traffic information page.
What is the Bay Bridge called in San Francisco?
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the United States .
What happened on the Bay Bridge?
A vehicle fire on the Bay Bridge brought morning traffic to a halt and sent plumes of dark smoke into the air Thursday morning, Aug. 19, 2021. The Bay Bridge is the main artery between San Francisco and the East Bay, with vehicles on the upper deck traveling from the East Bay to the city.
How many cars pass through the Bay Bridge a day?
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks.
Is the Bay Bridge finished?
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California....San Francisco–Oakland Bay BridgeConstruction endNovember 12, 1936OpenedNovember 12, 1936StatisticsDaily traffic260,00030 more rows
When did the Bay Bridge close?
Transportation Impacts of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake: The Bay Bridge Closure. The Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989 damaged highways throughout the Bay Area.
How many workers died building the Bay Bridge?
twenty-eight menAt the time the Bay Bridge was built, the recognized “rule of thumb” predicted one death for every million dollars spent on construction. The fact that there were relatively few major disasters reduced, but did not prevent, accidents. Sadly, twenty-eight men lost their lives during the construction process.
Are tolls working on Bay Bridge?
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco and crosses the San Francisco Bay along I-80. Drivers pay tolls in the westbound direction at the eastern side of the bridge....At-A-Glance Bridge Tolls for Cars (2-Axle Vehicles with FasTrak)BridgeCostSan Francisco-Oakland$ 77 more rows
How deep is the water under the Bay Bridge?
370 feetWant to swim over the deepest part of the bay? Maybe you've already done it and had no idea - you'll find the deepest water in our Golden Gate Bridge race just under the bridge at over 370 feet.
Whats the longest bridge in the USA?
The Lake Pontchartrain CausewayThe Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge in the United States and the longest in the world that runs continuously over water. The causeway consists of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. The longer of the two bridges is almost 24 miles in length.
Are there bodies in the Golden Gate Bridge?
Between 1937 and 2012 an estimated 1 400 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.
What was found beneath the Golden Gate Bridge?
Just sitting there in the deep. Underneath the Golden Gate Bridge lies the wreck of the City of Chester, a steamboat that sank on August 22, 1890 at 10 a.m. The boat was impaled on the steamer Oceanic, arriving from Asia, and sunk in six minutes. It traveled to the seafloor and settled in, still upright.
What building has the most deaths?
Deadliest single building or complex fires and explosions in the U.S.RankEventNumber of deaths1The World Trade Center New York, NY2,6662Iroquois Theater Chicago, IL6023Cocoanut Grove night club Boston, MA4924Ohio State Penitentiary Columbus, OH32016 more rows
Can you still pay cash on the Bay Bridge?
In mid-March the authority eliminated the cash option, on a temporary basis, at the Bay Bridge and all tolling facilities in the state to eliminate interaction between drivers and toll collectors and to promote social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Is the Bay Bridge taking cash?
All Bay Area toll bridges have switched to automatic toll collection. Cash payment is no longer collected at any of the eight toll bridges. There are four ways to pay bridge tolls: FasTrak®, License Plate Account, One-Time Payment, and Invoice.
What happened to the Bay Area toll takers?
When the pandemic started, highway officials abruptly replaced in-person toll collection on the Bay Area's seven state-owned bridges with electronic systems because of the danger of contagion. They have decided not to reinstate the human toll collectors.
Overview
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the United States.
Description
The bridge consists of two crossings, east and west of Yerba Buena Island, a natural mid-bay outcropping inside San Francisco city limits. The western crossing between Yerba Buena and downtown San Francisco has two complete suspension spans connected at a center anchorage. Rincon Hill is the western anchorage and touch-down for the San Francisco landing of the bridge connec…
History
San Francisco, at the entrance to the bay, was perfectly placed to prosper during the California Gold Rush. Almost all goods not produced locally arrived by ship. But after the first transcontinental railroad was completed in May 1869, San Francisco was on the wrong side of the Bay, separated from the new rail link. The fear of many San Franciscans was that the city would lose its position as t…
Earthquake damage and subsequent upgrades
On the evening of October 17, 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale, a 50-foot (15 m) section of the upper deck of the eastern truss portion of the bridge at Pier E9 collapsed onto the deck below, indirectly causing one death. The bridge was closed for just over a month as construction crews repaired the section. That same year, the …
Name
The bridge was unofficially "dedicated" to James B. "Sunny Jim" Rolph, Jr., but this was not widely recognized until the bridge's 50th-anniversary celebrations in 1986. The official name of the bridge for all functional purposes has always been the "San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge", and, by most local people, it is referred to simply as "the Bay Bridge".
Financing and tolls
When the Bay Bridge opened in 1936, the toll was 65 cents (equivalent to $12.69 in 2021), collected in each direction by men in booths fronting each lane of traffic. Within months, the toll was lowered to 50 cents in order to compete with the ferry system, and finally to 25 cents since this was shown sufficient to pay off the original revenue bonds on schedule (equivalent to $9.42 and $4.71 in 2021 respectively). In 1951 there were eighty collectors working various shifts.
See also
• 49-Mile Scenic Drive
• Bay Bridge Troll
• Cosco Busan oil spill
• Treasure Island Development
External links
Media related to San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
Official sites:
• Bay Area FasTrak – includes toll information on this and the other Bay Area toll facilities
• baybridgeinfo.org Site by Caltrans about all current construction on the bridge.