Bay Bridge slowly recovers from truck fire
Published 5:34 pm, Thursday, September 15, 2005
(09-15) 17:34 PDT San Francisco (SF Chronicle) --
Authorities have finally reopened all lanes of the lower deck of the Bay Bridge after clearing the roadway of a beer truck that caught fire this afternoon.
Traffic woes are lingering, however, on the eastbound lanes of the bridge, the San Francisco approaches and on roads leading to alternate bridges as some drivers try to avoid the mess.
The problems started at 1:12 p.m. when flames erupted in a tire of a truck carrying Coors beer. The fire spread from the tire and engulfed the truck, said Sgt. Wayne Ziese of the Cali-fornia Highway Patrol.
The CHP shut down all lanes on the lower deck and two lanes of the upper deck for about 40 minutes, authorities said.
Officers opened two of the eastbound lanes at 2 p.m., but the lower deck was not completely cleared until 5 p.m. because authorities had to unload the beer before the truck could be towed off the bridge.
"We took out 10 kegs and tons and tons of bottles," said CHP Of-ficer Sean Chase. "It was a 40-foot-trailer and completely full of beer."
The truck driver escaped the rig, and there were no injuries, the CHP said. Authorities suspect that the truck, which was out of Fontana (San Bernardino County), may have had a brake problem.
As traffic on the Bay Bridge backed up well into San Francisco, drivers began heading for alternate routes across the Golden Gate or San Mateo bridges, causing those spans and their approaches to back up as well.
"We have a very precarious transportation system," Ziese said. "Shut down a major artery and commutes are impacted within a heartbeat."