Freeway collapses in San Francisco Bay Area

A fuel tanker traveling under Interstate 580 at the MacArthur Maze interchange in Oakland hit a guardrail and crashed into a pylon at 3:41 AM PST, igniting its load of 8600 gallons of gas (petrol). Flames rose to 200 ft, and the 2750 Fahrenheit (1510 Celsius) heat caused the steel frame of the I-580 overpass to buckle, and bolts to melt, resulting in its collapse.



Click on the image or here for more pictures.



Google Map of the crash site here.

The driver is suspected of speeding at the time of the incident. I am not surprised, the long curves at this part of the freeway make it really tempting (and fun) to speed. The lack of generous shoulders on either side of the roadway means that misjudgments are costly though.




Video by baconmonkey.

8600 gallons (32,680 liters), 2750 F, damn! And I thought you can only achieve that if you set Rosie O'Donnell on fire.