Photo via Caltrans

A ten-vehicle crash on northbound 101 in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon led to some police activity as CHP officers pursued a driver who allegedly tried to flee the crash scene.

The crash happened sometime just before 3 pm, and the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management put out an alert at 3:07 pm that the right lanes of northbound 101 were blocked south of Vermont Street, telling drivers to use alternate routes if possible.

Those heading to downtown or the Bay Bridge from the Peninsula could take 280 northbound.

As KRON4 reports, the San Francisco Police Department was also on the scene, and one of the drivers allegedly attempted to flee the scene on foot following the crash. CHP officers reportedly apprehended that individual.

There are still no reports on injuries, and Lanes 3 and 4 were reportedly blocked.

CHP San Francisco tweeted at 3:20 pm to "expect delays" and gave no estimate for reopening the lanes. KRON4, however, reported that the lanes were expected to reopen around 4:30 pm.

This is a developing story.

A crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian on northbound 101 near San Francisco International Airport left the pedestrian dead and all northbound lanes shut down for several hours early Tuesday.

The collision happened around 4:43 am on northbound Highway 101 near the South Airport Boulevard exit in South San Francisco, north of the 380 interchange. As KRON4 reports, an initial report said that there was a body in the far left lane of the freeway.

A Sig alert was issued at 5:15 am and CHP began diverting all traffic off the freeway at the South San Francisco offramp, creating a significant traffic backup for anyone trying to commute into the city.

A Caltrans camera image from just after 7 am showed the traffic backup on northbound 101 as only the far right lane was in use at that time.

It would be 7:20 am Tuesday before all lanes were reopened.

There has not been any information released about the vehicle or driver involved in the crash.

The victim's identity has also not been released, and nor have the circumstances that led to them being on the freeway on foot.

It’s SF driving 101 that you should not follow a confused self-driving Waymo vehicle down a closed road, but that’s what happened Tuesday night near Highway 101 in Potrero Hill, after a stalled Waymo traffic jam led to the robotaxis veering into a closed lane.

It was back on March 1 that Google’s self-driving car division Waymo got permission to drive on freeways in California. So you figured it was only a matter of time until there was some sort of self-driving car freeway snafu.  That sort of happened Tuesday night, not directly on US Route 101, but some 300 feet from it. TechCrunch reports that six Waymos blocked traffic near the 101 on-ramp, and then pulled onto a closed road to get out of the mess.  

The video below is clearly on Potrero Avenue, and is apparently from about 9:30 pm Tuesday night.

Line of driverless Waymos glitch out and block the Portrero Avenue 101 onramp
byu/dzdaniel84 insanfrancisco

“I was driving back home just now when the traffic came to a sudden stop on the 101 onramp,” a Reddit poster says. “After sitting in the car waiting for several minutes, a couple of people came out and started moving traffic cones and a construction sign to allow traffic to pass through. I'm not sure how much traffic passed through, since there was a Muni bus right behind me that couldn't take this detour, but it was a pretty shitty situation all around. I guess autonomous vehicles still aren't fully there yet.”

People moving construction cones to allow traffic to bypass a line of stalled driverless Waymos in San Francisco

There is additional video of human drivers getting out of their cars to move orange traffic cones so they can maneuver out of the stalled-Waymo jam.

While Waymo has permission for its self-driving cars to operate on US 101, they say they are still only allowing human drivers on that highway. And that restriction may have been what caused the clusterfudge, as apparently one of the Waymos had a human driver at the wheel.

The SF Standard got a statement out of Waymo over the incident. "The Waymo driver pulled over to a safe location, out of the traffic lane, in an area blocked by cones," a Waymo spokesperson told them. "Other vehicles, both human and autonomously driven, followed the Waymo vehicle into the road closure."

Waymo said it dispatched Roadside Assistance and cleared the situation up within about 30 minutes.

These are fairly vague explanations  of what actually happened and why. But it appears that Waymos got confused and stalled, human divers intervened and moved the cones, which led to different behavior by the Waymos. So one thing the robot cars may not have figured out yet is how to respond when human drivers take matters into their own hands.

Related: Waymo Gets State Approval for Los Angeles and SF Peninsula Expansion — and Freeway Driving [SFist]

Image: dzdaniel84 via Reddit

You can cruise through traffic in the new express lanes that opened Friday morning on U.S. 101, and it’s free for carpools of three or more people, but it’s a $500 fine if you’re in that lane without a FasTrak.

Folks who drive U.S. 101 on the Peninsula have had a SoCal-style express toll lane available from the San Mateo/Santa Clara County line down to Sunnyvale since earl 2022. A new 20-mile stretch of express lane in San Mateo County soft-launched for “toll equipment testing” in November, but hits its full stride effective today.  KTVU reports the new 101 express lanes started today, and as seen below, this presents the possibility of much faster travel northbound and southbound between San Bruno and Redwood City. And commuters can now ride in express-lane comfort — which is free for carpools of three or more — all the way from San Bruno to Sunnyvale.

The NBC Bay Area video above is a nice explainer of a somewhat complicated FasTrak tolling system for the new express  lanes, which are meant to encourage carpooling, but solo drivers can still drive in that lane. “People driving in carpools with three or more people, as well as buses, will be able to travel free of charge in the express lanes,” as NBC Bay Area reports. “Customers driving clean air vehicles such as cars that run on fuel cells, battery, or plug-in hybrids that have a valid clean-air vehicle decal from the Department of Motor Vehicles will qualify for a 50% toll discount when the lanes first open.”

The express lane system is now in effect Monday-Friday, 5 a.m.-8 p.m.

The above map shows where the new express lanes are in effect, represented in the blue and white line (the green line is a South Bay express lane that was already in effect).

The cost is based on dynamic pricing that changes constantly, and road signs will flash the current cost. The method of determining this cost is as clear as mud. But per FasTrak, “Two-person carpools using a properly set FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag receive a 50% discount. Carpools of 3+ people and motorcycles may use the lane for FREE with a FasTrak Flex or FasTrak CAV toll tag. Eligible clean air vehicles (CAVs) traveling as a single-occupant receive a 50% discount when using a FasTrak CAV toll tag.”

Do you want to ride but feel you can’t afford it? Big government will hook you up! “The Community Transportation benefits program helps cover transportation costs for qualifying individuals in San Mateo County by leveraging income from the new express lanes to help low-income individuals,” Tasha Bartholomew of the San Mateo County 101 Express Lane Joint Powers Authority tells NBC Bay Area. “We can provide participants with either a $100 transit credit on their Clipper card or a $100 toll credit on a FasTrak flex transponder, depending on if they want to take public transportation or if they’re in their car.”

But you need a FasTrak toll tag to ride in that express lane, no matter how many people are in the vehicle. Riding in that lane without a FasTrak toll tag carries a $491 fine.

Traffic authorities around the Bay Area have been discussing pay-to-play express lanes for over a decade now, and there are now 155 miles of express lanes, primarily in the East Bay, on I-680, I-880, part of I-580, and on Highways 237 and 85. The I-680 express lane project is continuing to expand, but the express lanes on 101 are the first to require 3 or more passengers to qualify as a carpool.

Related: Bay Area Toll Authority to Crack Down on Unpaid Bridge Tolls With Penalties and Liens on Registrations [SFist]

Image: @101ExpressLanes via Twitter

A fatal crash involving a motorcyclist ended up impacting traffic in multiple directions early Tuesday because of where it took place, and well into rush hour traffic was still snarled and slow all the way across the Bay Bridge.

The crash happened around 3:30 a.m., and CHP is still investigating and they are unsure whether it was a solo crash by the motorcyclist, or if another vehicle might have been involved. As KTVU explains, the motorcyclist crashed and "was ejected from the 101-southbound-to-eastbound-I-80 connector and fell onto the I-80 westbound-to-southbound-101 transition below the 101-to-80 connector" in San Francisco.

After being ejected, the motorcyclist, described as a man in his 30s, reportedly fell 30 feet onto the roof of another vehicle on the roadway below. That vehicle stopped and was then rear-ended by another vehicle. Drivers in both cars suffered minor injuries.

The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Chronicle reports that the CHP believes the motorcyclist crashed into a wall while "traveling on the connector ramp from southbound Highway 101 to eastbound I-80." The car he apparently fell onto was traveling from I-80 west to Highway 101 south.

The alerts that went out about the crash made it sound like every freeway into and out of San Francisco was shut down, which was almost true for several hours. "A vehicle collision is affecting Highways US-101 Southbound to US-80 Eastbound and US-80 Westbound," said the ALERT SF notice Tuesday. "Lanes are blocked."

While lanes had reopened as of 9 a.m., there continued to be residual delays on the 101 southbound ramp to I-80 east in SF, and there may still be slowness coming westbound across the Bay Bridge.

After a car accident in or around San Francisco, you may need assistance with the legal ramifications. It might be important for you to speak with accident injury attorneys to establish if you are due financial payments from insurance companies or other individuals involved. You may also need to protect yourself from lawsuits. Reach out to some of the Best Car Accident Injury Attorneys in San Francisco to do your own research and find the perfect fit for your exact case.

A literal garbage fire stopped traffic in the Mission District Friday when a Recology garbage truck became engulfed in flames on the 101 overpass at Cesar Chavez Street.

The fire was first reported around 11:30 a.m., as KPIX reports, and it temporarily shut down all lanes of northbound 101 as fire crews arrived. The two left lanes of the northbound side reopened about 45 minutes later, but the cleanup and fire extinguishing continued on in the two right lanes.

Video posted to the Citizen app showed flames appearing to come from near the cab of the garbage truck, with smoke billowing up from the overpass. No injuries were reported.

The situation led to a massive backup on 101 lasting into Friday afternoon, and prompting California Highway Patrol to issue a Sig Alert for heavy traffic.

A horrific crash on northbound 101 after midnight Wednesday night claimed the lives of four people, including a taxi driver and two passengers.

The collision happened just before 12:29 a.m. Thursday at Paul Avenue, in the northbound lanes of the freeway, after multiple reports of a vehicle traveling the wrong way (south) in the northbound lanes. As KPIX reports, the Volkswagen was seen driving the wrong way near the Candlestick Point off-ramp and at the junction of 280, and Officer Bert Diaz tells the station, "It is very possible it [the Volkswagen] they could have been traveling [the wrong-way] for some time."

Per NBC Bay Area, reports of the wrong-way driver came in around 12:24 a.m., and the crash was not discovered until five minutes later.

The driver of the Volkswagen, described only as a woman in her 30s or 40s, was killed, as was the driver of a Ford Escape taxi, identified as a man in his 60s. Also killed were two passengers in the taxi, which was traveling northbound toward San Francisco — described only as a male and a female. All four people were pronounced dead at the scene. The passengers may have been coming from SFO, as NBC Bay Area notes the presence of luggage in the road following the collision.

As KRON 4 reports, the right two lanes of northbound 101 were closed Thursday morning for the investigation, and it was unclear how long they would remain so. Northbound traffic on the freeway was significant throughout the early morning hours.

You likely remember the tale: Back in March of this year, a driver on a San Francisco stretch of 101 was surrounded and attacked by a group of dirt bike riders, apparently because he interrupted their wheelie-popping sideshow. Four months later, the California Highway Patrol says they've nabbed three of the suspects, all of whom are cooling their heels in San Francisco County Jail.

35-year-old Alex Quintana, who would commute to San Francisco from Modesto to drive for ride-hail services Uber and Lyft, says that on the evening of March 8, the bikers shattered his window as he drove on 101 near Cesar Chavez. When he got out of the car to avoid the glass, four to five bikers then began beating him, kicking him when he was down, and ultimately broke one of his legs in three places, and broke his nose and caused nerve damage.

In a press release posted to Facebook Friday, the CHP says that they "simultaneously served multiple arrest and search warrants on four homes in the San Francisco area" on Wednesday morning as a result of their investigation into the case.

Three men, all SF residents, were arrested: 33-year-old Derwayne A. Johnson, 25-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez, and 19-year-old Jarrell E. Williams Jr. "The arrested parties face some to all of the following charges," the CHP writes, "assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, battery, vandalism, possession of stolen property, and possession of a controlled substance."

During the raid (photos and video of which are below) the CHP says they also "recovered several firearms, a stolen dirt bike, money, and a small amount of drugs."

The CHP says that they identified the trio "after an extensive investigation where CHP officers reviewed the videos of this incident taken by passing motorists, obtained positive identifications from CHP and San Francisco Police Department officers who previously had contact with these individuals, and followed up on information provided from the public."

All three of the men have been booked into San Francisco County Jail, police confirm, where they reportedly remain as of Friday afternoon.

Related: Victim Of Road Rage Biker Gang Beating On 101 Speaks Out From Hospital

Northbound US 101 closed at 9th Street due to fatal collision investigation. Use alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/orNZqdAceG

— CHP San Francisco (@CHPSanFrancisco) June 12, 2017

A woman died on a San Francisco stretch of freeway Monday, in a crash investigators say involved no vehicles besides her own.

It was 12:06 p.m. Monday when a woman piloting a Harley-Davidson motorcycle crashed on northbound Highway 101 near the Ninth Street off-ramp, California Highway Patrol spokesperson Officer Vu Williams says.

The woman "apparently failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway and struck a barrier," Bay City News reports. She died at the scene, Williams says. The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office has since identified the motorcyclist as 51-year-old SF resident Macshell McIlvenna.

The wreck and subsequent investigation blocked lanes of 101 until just after 2 p.m., causing a significant traffic backup in the area.

A caller who reported the crash said that the motorcyclist had been in a collision with a black Honda Accord, the Chron reports. However, investigators "later determined the [Honda driver] merely witnessed the crash and was not involved," BCN reports.

“It looks like it was a solo collision,” Williams told the Chron “Early indications are, it may have just taken that curve a little too fast — speed is probably going to be a factor here.”

California Highway Patrol officers called to a stretch of freeway in SF on reports of an erratic driver made a damp discovery Sunday, when they found the car in question had plunged into the Bay, but the driver was nowhere to be found.

The Chron reports that CHP received calls regarding a "veering" driver on 101 near Candlestick Point at around 6 p.m. Sunday night. According to CBS 5, witnesses saw the vehicle go over an embankment on northbound 101, where it then "plunged into the water about a quarter mile south of Candlestick Point."

Who made the plunge, however, is still unknown. CHP spokesperson Officer Damian Cistaro, who spoke with the Chron, says “Officers arrived, and they discovered this vehicle in the water about 20 yards from the roadway."

“Nobody was inside the vehicle," Cistaro says.

The CHP says that a tow truck was all that was necessary to pull the vehicle back to land, suggesting that the waters were shallow enough for a driver to safely escape. According to Cistaro, the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A man struck by a driver as he walked on a San Francisco freeway was suffering from a gunshot wound, police say, turning the investigation of his death from a typical traffic collision endeavor to that of a "suspicious death."

The 42-year-old man was walking above Division and Ninth Streets on the Interstate 80 westbound connector to northbound Highway 101 at around 5 a.m. Thursday, California Highway Patrol spokesperson Officer Vu Williams tells Bay City News.

The man, who as of Friday morning had yet to be publicly identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office, was struck by the driver of a gray 1997 Ford Ranger. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

“He suffered from pretty extensive injuries from being struck,” Williams told the Ex, but that wasn't all, as SF General staffers also discovered a fresh gunshot wound in the man's leg.

That's when CHP called in the San Francisco Police Department, reports the Chron, which will be taking over the investigation in an effort to determine the circumstances of the shooting. Police believe that the man was shot before he got on the freeway, BCN reports, but "the exact location has not been determined."

The effort is now "a suspicious death investigation,” SFPD spokesperson Officer Giselle Talkoff told the Chron, saying that police await autopsy results to determine of it was the bullet or the collision that caused the man's demise.

The driver who struck the man was on his way to work when the collision occurred, BCN reports. According to the Chron, he "remained on scene and cooperated with police. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system and he was released."

Related: SF's Violent Autumn Continues With Monday Evening Homicide

CHP officers responded early this morning to reports of a man walking between both northbound and southbound lanes of Highway 101 in Belmont. They arrived to find the man crossing back and forth on the freeway carrying a knife, and as CHP spokesman John Fransen tells ABC 7, the man did not respond and was not subdued after a Taser was employed.

"The pedestrian then produced a knife, held it over his head and lunged towards one of our officers. At that point, one of the officers opened fire," Fransen says to the station.

KRON 4 reports that the man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and he has not yet been identified.

The Chronicle reports that the confrontation with the man began at 3:20 a.m. Sunday near Ralston Avenue, and the subsequent investigation forced the closure of northbound 101 until 7:30 a.m., four hours later.

Reportedly only one officer fired shots, and no officers were injured.

CHP and Belmont police continue to investigate, and Belmont police are asking anyone who knows anything about the man and how he ended up on the freeway to call (650) 595-7400.