San Francisco freeway collapse

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070430/ap_on_re_us/highway_collapse;_ylt=AofsDuhxPCL5ZI05szEppsms0NUE

Part of the highway that connects the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to other freeways collapsed last night. We're planning to be in San Francisco June 3 - 5. Flying in and out of SFO, staying in Alameda. Visiting FI, Trader Vic's Emeryville, Tonga Room, others. This freeway interchange could to take months to repair and traffic is going to be nightmarish. Any advise from those living there on how we should deal with this? I know this just happened last night, but I'm just about to book our rental car and now I'm wondering if we're going to be able to drive between SF and Alameda without spending hours on the road! I'm starting to question that whole leg of our trip now. This really sucks! But I feel for those of you who live there and are going to have to deal with it for a much longer time.

Sorry, I'm a day late on the news. I thought it happened last night, but it was early Sunday morning. I'm starting to think Alameda and FI and Trader Vic's Emeryville may be out for us. :(

BART might be an alternative for you. It goes under the bay.

CHP officials today recommended several alternate routes for drivers traveling to locations throughout the Bay Area.

For drivers traveling from San Francisco to Hayward, take eastbound Interstate Highway 80 over the Bay Bridge to southbound Interstate Highway 880.

For drivers going from San Francisco to Walnut Creek: after the Bay Bridge, exit eastbound Interstate Highway 80 at West Grand Avenue, take a left on Northgate Avenue, then enter the on-ramp to eastbound Interstate Highway 580 towards state Highway 24, and take eastbound state Highway 24 to Interstate Highway 680.

Four other alternate routes from San Francisco to parts of the East Bay are recommended:

– Take eastbound Interstate Highway 80 and exit the Albany/Buchanan off-ramp, turn left under the freeway, left onto westbound Interstate Highway 80, and follow to eastbound Interstate Highway 580.

– Take southbound U.S. Highway 101 to the eastbound San Mateo Bridge (state Highway 92) to Interstate Highway 880 north or south.

– Take southbound U.S. Highway 101 to the eastbound Dumbarton Bridge (state Highway 84) to Interstate Highway 880 north or south.

– Take northbound U.S. Highway 101 over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on eastbound Interstate Highway 580.

It's really not all that bad, in fact my commute over the Bay Bridge into the city this morning went faster than usual. It will be getting back to the East Bay that will be a challenge since the folks going to the northern part of the East Bay will have to detour along my usual route towards Alameda.

You'll have no problem getting between Alameda and San Francisco. Your biggest problems will come getting to Trader Vic's in Emeryville from San Francisco, and getting to Alameda from Trader Vic's. But it can be done. Detours have been set up and are clearly marked. I suggest going to cbs5.com to check their coverage on the recommended alternate routes. By the time you get here, most of the locals will have adjusted and things will be moving smoothly.

Do not cancel this leg of the trip! Trader Vic's, FI, and the Tonga Room are all worth enduring a little bit of traffic trauma to get there! Hope this helps, and let us know what your itinerary is when you're in town so some of the local Ohana can meet up with you!

It's bad, but the news made it worse than it is -- as they often do. I drive to SF from Alameda at least 3 times a week. That's not the part that was affected. JenTiki's right, the difficult part will be getting to TV Emeryville. But no worries, if the detours are clogged, there are several alternative back routes (albiet longer - but around traffic) to get there.

[ Edited by: coco loco 2007-04-30 11:55 ]

My evening route to home from work is no more (San Rafael to Alameda), but my morning route from home to work is fine, and normal today. Not looking forward to my drive home. I guess I'll just have to detour through San Francisco more often!

Getting to the Conga Lounge and the Kona Club from San Francisco will be difficult as those routes are gone, so you will have to detour through surface streets. I guess we'll have a better idea after tonight how that will look.

Thanks all. I won't be hasty and make any change in plans. I sure hope we can make it over to Vic's Emeryville though. Was also going to LA and Vic's Beverly Hills. Now that's shot. Sheesh, this is gittin' ridiculous!

You'll be able to get there, just not on the freeway. :) Alternate traffic patterns (ie. which routes are people using) will probably shake out over the course of this week. We'll be happy to get ya there (via surface road conditions) as soon as we know which ways are the best given the current situation.

On 2007-04-30 12:45, GatorRob wrote:
Thanks all. I won't be hasty and make any change in plans. I sure hope we can make it over to Vic's Emeryville though. Was also going to LA and Vic's Beverly Hills. Now that's shot. Sheesh, this is gittin' ridiculous!

Also, there is a great public transportation ferry system that can shuttle you back and forth between San Francisco and Alameda. And they serve drinks on the ferry as well! The ferry terminal drops you off not too far from Forbidden Island, so you could take a short cab ride, or have one of the Forbidden Island regulars pick you up, or bus it - Jen, do you know the bus # to catch from the ferry terminal that will take you close to Forbidden Island?

The ferry might be a viable option, because there is going to be major roadwork not only on the Bay Bridge, and that part of the freeway that just collapsed, but there is also going to be major work on the 880 Fwy and 92 San Mateo Bridge exchange as well starting this June, targeted to last for 4 years. So the freeway and bridge systems are going to be a mess this summer in the Bay Area - that freeway collapse couldn't have happened at a worse time!

I don't believe there is one bus that will get you from the Ferry Terminal to anywhere near Forbidden Island. You would have to transfer at Webster and Santa Clara. Taking Bart to downtown Oakland, then the 51 bus would be a viable option, but the "O" bus from SF to Alameda would be your best bet to Forbidden Island if you decide not to drive, but read on. Again, I think the only difficulty is going to be between Emeryville and Alameda.

I just got home to Alameda after a very brief bus commute from the city. Traffic today, in both directions, was moving faster than usual. I guess everyone just took Bart! We'll have to see how tomorrow goes to get a better feel for things, it may be that everyone was just scared enough to stay home. But if it doesn't get much worse than it was today, then there's not gonna be much problem getting around the closed road. I could see work going on at the area that had the collapse and I would bet they get the bottom portion usable within a couple weeks. Traffic-wise, at least as far as I could tell, this is nowhere near the nightmare that was predicted!

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2007-04-30 18:52 ]

The local news is reporting that most of the interchange should be open in ** 10 days**. After super duper high tech testing, it was determined that structure itself is sound so it's just a matter of putting it back in place. Now that will be interesting to see. I wonder how many cranes it will take to lift a highway?

You could always ask the car rental folks for some good maps with alternate routes clearly posted for you. It is slow going around the immediate crash are, but if your know your way around the side streets you can get to where you need to go.

I used to drive that way from Sacramento to get o my office in Oakland, but months ago changed over to the Caldecot tunnel route which is much nicer. I was expecting pandemonium and gridlock on all the alternate freeways, but it hasn't been bad. I think folks that are truly impacted are doing the mass transit options and others may be in the telecommuting option too.

Do you think anyone with any intelligence in California could see that these trucks need a truck route to be moved away from the massive commuter issue we have....doesn't take a billion dollar study to recognize a solution. Just reroute some of our taxes going to support the leaches into the roadways that support the hard-working public. :)

The local news station stated today that the freeway was scheduled to re-open on June 2, but they are running ahead of schedule, and it should be re-opened by May 25, just in time for Memorial weekend.

Holy Carp! That contractor's gonna make BANK if that happens!!!

On 2007-05-17 09:56, Haole'akamai wrote:
Holy Carp! That contractor's gonna make BANK if that happens!!!

That's why the contractor low-balled their bid. They knew they could get it done faster by working overtime and still make more $$ on the deadline bonuses than the OT pay would cost.

On 2007-05-17 02:16, Mai Tai wrote:
The local news station stated today that the freeway was scheduled to re-open on June 2, but they are running ahead of schedule, and it should be re-opened by May 25, just in time for Memorial weekend.

And just in time for our trip! Thanks for the heads up.

Sounds like things are coming along quite nicely on the amzaingly expensive and quick repair of the collapsed section. Should be smooth sailing soon...back to the usual bump and grind on the freeway.

The freeways all re-opened tonight. Traffic should be back to normal after the holiday weekend. Although, considering Bay area traffic, "normal" is relative.

Thanks for the update Jen....the freeways were indeed normal again tonight. Didn't leave Oakland till 8pm...typical backups....way too many big trucks hauling big boats....got home at 10:30pm (drove like a batouttahellin some spots). :)

What ever happened to the jailbait truck driver? I hate watching the news, so not up to speed on it all.