commute complications in Oakland

Once again I am so glad I no longer live in the East Bay.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Apr 30 2007, 08:11 AM) [snapback]432561[/snapback]</div>

So are we... (the rest of us in California)... one less person....

 

I'm sure one of those darned hybrid cars is to blame for this.

Tom

 

I was actually surprised how much play this is getting out here on the East Coast. My mom works for one of the major ferry companies in the Bay, and they were scrambling to get enough boats to supplement their already-existing ferry service from the East Bay. It's going to be a mess for a while, I think. I'd be interested to hear the experiences of people trying to commute; more people should be using BART or the ferries anyway, so we can hope that something positive comes out of this.

 

It's all over the TV news and the internet.

My question is - what is an appropriate punishment for this idiot truck driver? It sounds like he was speeding and the accident is totally his fault. It's going to cost probably millions of $ to fix it and inconvenience thousands of people for weeks if not months. And he just gets to say "oops". Maybe he'll get a speeding ticket. :angry:

 

It was even on our news in little old Tasmania, Australia.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CMonster @ Apr 30 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]432580[/snapback]</div>

San Jose Mercury News on the driver:

Driver who crashed in Oakland involved in previous hit-and-run crash
By Connie Skipitares
Mercury News
Article Launched: 04/30/2007 03:17:04 PM PDT




James Mosqueda, the driver of a gasoline-filled tanker that crashed and exploded on a section of Oakland's MacArthur Maze early Sunday morning, collapsing an elevated section of freeway, was convicted of a hit-and-run in the 1974, according to Sacramento County court records.

In that Sacramento case, which involved property damage, Mosqueda was also convicted of giving false information to a police officer.

The truck driver also has been arrested numerous times for drug possession and intent to sell illegal substances, including marijuana and heroin, court records showed. He was convicted in at least one of the cases and has spent almost a year in jail.

He also has had several brushes with the law over carrying a loaded firearm in a public place in 1980 and committing burglaries, which also have drawn jail time.

But none of those violations precluded him from driving a truck carrying hazardous materials, according to the DMV and the Transportation Security Administration. The firearms charge would have prevented him from getting a trucker's license, but only if it had occurred within the last five years.

Mosqueda, 51, had been on his truck-driving job with Sabek Transport for 10 months. In the fiery accident early Sunday morning, his tanker rolled over and he was able to pulled himself out of the passenger side window. He walked away, managing to walk nearly a mile on the largely deserted freeway to an Arco gas station on West Grand Avenue in Oakland.

The inferno burned so hot that within an hour steel girders beneath one freeway overpass melted like a marshmallow, collapsing the roadway onto the lower freeway deck. Mosqueda suffered second-degree burns to his face, hands and arms and was taken to the hospital.

The overpass collapse, which closed part of the heavily traveled MacArthur Maze, is expected to cause the worst traffic disruption in the Bay Area since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

 

Psh, now I'm ashamed for the Merc. Before we villify this driver, who could have very easily died in the wreck, let's think about ths a little. The posted speed limits on freeways in the Bay Area are 65mph, but I routinely see people doing 75 (heck, I do it myself, though very rarely now because I'm a mileage snob), there are people who pass me on the right at 90+ mph (and since I'm driving in the rightmost continuous lane of traffic, they're passing me on the right by getting into an exit only lane and then ducking back out -- what the hell??), and in general, there is a complete and utter disregard for the speed limit sign. I've been on the freeway at 65 and I've been passed by truckers carrying huge loads... which means they must be doing at least 11 over their posted speed limit.

We don't know what this particular trucker was doing, but it being a big gas tanker, I highly doubt he'd be zooming down the road at 80mph. Is 70mph excessive for this thing? Sure; that entry into The Maze is very twisty, and I sure wouldn't do 70 into it going I-80 W to I-580 E or I-880 S. But I know plenty of people who wouldn't blink at that.

I guess what I'm saying is: before saying that he should be put to death for something that could have killed him, consider whether you would feel the same of someone else doing the same speed elsewhere. There is an established culture of speeding around here.

 

Perhaps a few half-charred heads on a pike along some of those
roadways could serve as a grim incentive to start turning some of
that "established culture" around, huh?
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Apr 30 2007, 06:12 PM) [snapback]432914[/snapback]</div>

One would hope, but I'm sure people would just start thinking "eh, that person's stupid and deserved to die", and go on their merry way. If it weren't for that kind of rationalization, I think we'd have fewer people driving, period.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(John in LB @ Apr 30 2007, 11:14 AM) [snapback]432567[/snapback]</div>

Of course, when I lived in the Bay Area, I was always glad I didn't live at the wrong end of the state!

 

Here in CA, the posted speed limit for trucks/trailers is 55 mph.

I live just a couple of miles from that spot in the maze, and have driven that exact path many times. Heck, I did it at least twice last week to get from Berkeley to the South Bay. There are some pretty decent curves around there, and while I consider myself a pretty aggressive driver, I've never gone faster than 65 around that turn. It's simply not safe. Sure, I see drivers playing speedracer around there, and I've seen many a skid mark left by other fools, but any rational and semi-intelligent driver knows that this isn't a good spot to play chicken.

I've no doubt that this trucker was breaking not only the speed limit for trucks and trailers, but also cars. What kind of moron speeds and drives unsafely while carrying over 8,000 lbs of gasoline?? It's one thing to transport fruits and vegetables -- I know falling tomatoes can damage cars -- but he showed a complete lack of judgment and respect by driving unsafely with gasoline. He's incredibly lucky that no one else was injured or killed.

I'm sure some of you will disagree with me, but I believe he deserves some sort of punishment.Maybe jail time, maybe monetary. His poor judgment and bad decisions are going to affect millions of commuters throughout the entire bay area for a long time and I, for one, am pretty p*ssed about it.

 

Any explanation on why the repair will take "months"? I think reporters try to find the most panicked official and quote that person. It won't take months to repair. There was a NYC subway fire not too long ago that melted an electrical nest of wires and the headline said an entire subway line would be down months and it was nowhere near that.

Any commuter war stories from the 89 quake? How long did that take to repair?

 

Um, how does this subject qualify for the Prius Main Forum? :mellow:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(etyler88 @ May 1 2007, 09:09 AM) [snapback]433319[/snapback]</div>

I heard it was due to a steel shortage.

A lot depends on whether or not they need to rebuild 880 (580 fell onto 880), or if it's still structurally sound. If 880 is good to go, I think they can get that back up and running within a few weeks.

 

Steel shortage? That sounds like a nervous nelly official and reporter working together.

a quick google news search reveals.

A top Caltrans engineer says because of heavy demand for steel throughout the world, the agency is having difficulty locating steel for the repair project. The agency hopes it can borrow material from nearby projects.

Reinhard Ludke, a San Francisco structural engineer familiar with bridge construction, agreed. If Caltrans can find the steel, he said, the repair could happen within eight weeks. He suggested that federal authorities could intervene to divert steel from projects elsewhere in the country.


And I'll bet that 8 weeks is a CYA comment so that when they fix it in the normal three week time, they look like heros.

also

"The massive traffic snarls just about everybody was expecting after the collapse of a section of the MacArthur Maze interchange didn't materialize yesterday."

from:

http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=6450623

 

Something similar happened in Philadelphia about 10 years ago. There was an illegal tire dump under one of the raised sections of I95. The tires caught fire and melted the overpass. It didn't collapse, but it severely warped and buckled it. It was closed for months.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CMonster @ Apr 30 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]432580[/snapback]</div>

It would be nice to see the government go after the driver and the trucking company for damages. I'm sure any DA with a little initiative could find half a dozen charges to file against the driver and the company. Perhaps it's time to revisit the Roman tradition of crucifiction along the highway.

 

All of this begs the question of whether it makes sense to truck hazardous materials through a major commuting area. Many cities force some types of loads to go through a safer route.

Tom