Many wondered — especially those stuck in traffic! — why it took hours to remove the handful of protesters who created a barricade across the northbound lanes of I-880 Monday morning. Well, they did something fairly clever with barrels, which is a variation on the "sleeping dragon" technique.

While the "sleeping dragon" technique is commonly employed by protesters to create a barricade — it typically involves handcuffs underneath PVC pipe, so that law enforcement can't simply use bolt cutters to separate protesters — there was a more intense version used to create Monday's obstruction on I-880, which began around 6:30 am.

Protesters who wanted to call attention, on Tax Day, to the US tax dollars going to fund the killing of civilians in Gaza, chained themselves together not with handcuffs, but with barrels partially filled with concrete. The barrels had PVC pipe leading into them on either side, and protesters were gripping rebar drilled through the pipe, inside the barrel, which had been buried by concreete — and therefore wasn't easily accessible from the top.

"We received numerous calls today asking why we didn’t just arrest protesters as soon as we arrived," CHP Golden Gate writes on X. "The photos below along with video on our other social media channels show what officers had to work through before making arrests."

The Golden Gate Bridge protesters did something different: They used their vehicles to blockade the four lanes leading into San Francisco, and then locked hands using the typical "sleeping dragon" method, with handcuffs under PVC pipe, their arms linking between the cars.

The Golden Gate Bridge protest took around four hours to clear, with CHP opening all lanes of the bridge just before noon on Monday.

An initial reopening of lanes on I-880 took place within about four hours, at 10 am, but all the northbound lanes of the freeway did not reopen Monday until 1:15 pm.

"[These were the] Tactics utilized by unlawful protesters this morning on I-880 and the Golden Gate Bridge," CHP tweeted. "This is unlawful and will not be tolerated. Arrests were made and the CHP is recommending charges. Thank you to our law enforcement partners for their assistance."

Seven individuals were arrested in the 880 protest, and a total of 38 individuals were arrested for unlawful assembly on Monday, in addition to other potential charges.

Other coordinated A15 (for April 15) protests took place across the country, including on the highway leading to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, on roads in Philadelphia, and on the Brooklyn Bridge.

"In each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact," A15 organizers said prior to the protest.

The group called for a "multi-city blockade... in solidarity with Palestine," and one protester told the Chronicle, "We know that money is really what speaks to [elected leaders]."

Below is video from the CHP showing one protester's hand gripping a piece of rebar inside of one of the steel drums. The protester can be heard screaming "Ow! Ow!" as officers tell him to let go of the rebar, once they have extricated from the concrete.

Previously: Protests Block Golden Gate Bridge, All Northbound Lanes of 880 In Oakland

Tax Day protests over the war in Gaza have caused a commute nightmare for anyone trying to get to San Francisco from the North Bay, or anyone traveling north on I-880 toward Oakland or San Francisco.

The first demonstration, in which protesters chained themselves to barrels and completely blocked the northbound lanes of I-880 near 5th Street in downtown Oakland, began around 6:30 am. According to the CHP, the protest was ongoing as of 8:05 am and traffic was backed up well past the Coliseum.

Photos from the scene showed a line of CHP officers in riot gear behind the small line of protesters, who were sitting in the roadway wearing keffiyehs.

Referring to today's date, April 15, their banner read, "A15 Economic Protest for Free Palestine."

Update: The Chronicle reports that other protests have erupted around Oakland that were blocking traffic, including one that blocked the Broadway exit on Southbound I-880 in West Oakland, near 7th Street.

An hour after that protest began, around 7:30 am, around 60 protesters blocked the southbound lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge.

They were holding a banner saying "Stop the World for Gaza."

As of 8:48 am, KCBS radio reported that all lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge were blocked because CHP had blocked the northbound lanes in order to safely access the southbound lanes.

Update: KPIX has raw video showing the protesters being detained by CHP officers.

Expect traffic to be backed up onto Park Presidio, and potentially back to Lombard Street.

Update 2: The SF Department of Emergency Management said as of 12:40 pm that both directions of traffic had been cleared on the Golden Gate Bridge, but to expect residual delays.

A similar pro-Palestine protest this morning was blocking the highway leading to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Top image via CommonSenseiSF/X

An Uber driver and two passengers were hospitalized with injuries early Sunday following what authorities are calling a "targeted" shooting on the I-880 freeway in Oakland.

As the East Bay Times reports, the shooting took places at 4:15 a.m. in the southbound lanes of 880 near the 23rd Avenue offramp.

According to CHP Sgt. Robert Nacke, two "partygoers were on their way home in a Toyota Highlander when some[one] started shooting at them."

Parts of the freeway were shut down in the ensuing investigation, as ABC 7 tells us, though all lanes have since reopened.

All three victims, including the driver, were male, and it remains unclear why they may have been targeted. No suspects had been identified as of this morning, and the CHP is seeking tips and information at 707-551-4100.

KRON 4 reports that police do not believe the Uber driver was being targeted.

This was the third freeway shooting on 880 in the last two months, following two others that occurred in Hayward in August. At the time, ABC 7 noted that the Bay Area had crossed a disturbing threshold with the 100th freeway shooting in the region in just two years.

Media: Officer Montiel will be at Sam's Chowder House parking lot. @SMCSheriff will allow you to enter closure. pic.twitter.com/XwweioS0Jv

— CHP RWC (@CHP_RedwoodCity) October 1, 2017

At least three people were killed in Bay Area traffic collisions this weekend, among them a pedestrian who was fatally struck by a California Highway Patrol officer and two drivers killed in a head-on crash on Interstate 880.

It was 4:15 a.m.Saturday morning when the first wreck occurred, on northbound 880 in Oakland, "just south of Broadway" ABC 7 reports.

According to KRON 4, a dark-colored sedan was seen "traveling the wrong way...without its headlights on."

Around five minutes later, that car "slammed head-on into another vehicle traveling in the right direction," KRON 4 reports.

Killed in the crash were the two drivers of the cars, identified by the Chron as 26-year-old Joel Hutchinson of Oakland and 23-year-old San Leandro resident Jennifer Huezo Ruiz. The CHP could not immediately say which victim drove which car (and was therefore responsible for the collision) "because of the wreckage at the scene."

There were no passengers in either car, the CHP says, and no other vehicles were involved in the crash. The investigation into the wreck is ongoing, police say, including a toxicology report to determine if drugs or alcohol played a part in the collision.

Then, at 8:24 p.m. Saturday night, a man leaving a wedding reception at Half Moon Bay's Sam’s Chowder House was fatally struck by a CHP officer as he crossed Highway 1, ABC 7 reports.

"Restaurant staff said the victim had just finished eating and was trying to leave when he was struck by the patrol car," CBS 5 reports. The victim has not been publicly identified, but was from Burlingame, they report.

According to ABC 7, the victim was attempting to cross Highway 1 between Capistrano Road and Coronado Street when he was struck. Redwood City CHP says via statement that "It appears the CHP vehicle was traveling northbound on SR-1 when it collided with a 74-year-old Filipino male pedestrian." He died at the scene.

CHP Officer Art Montiel tells NBC Bay Area "somehow [the CHP driver] collided with the pedestrian." The CHP officer behind the wheel during the collision has not been publicly identified.

"Our vehicles are equipped with cameras, so that’s something that we’re going to be looking at to see what happened," Montiel said.

According to patrons who spoke with NBC, when the restaurant's main parking lot fills up, guests often park across the street, then are left "dodging highway traffic on foot to get to their destination."

There are no streetlights in the area, they report, adding to the risks. "We're taking our lives into our own hands; it’s very hard to get across the street," one guest told NBC. "There's a constant line of traffic ever since we’ve arrived here."

"It’s kind of crazy with the traffic," another said. "It’s hard to cross streets, it’s hard to pull out, it’s hard to do anything. No parking anywhere."

Montiel tells NBC that "the officer as been temporarily pulled from patrol duty during the investigation, which is being handled by a Vallejo-based team." Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call CHP Officer Kurtis Waldschmidt at (650) 369-6261.

These dogs narrowly escaped death earlier today when building material pierced their windshield. Don't be a dog-killer, secure your loads. pic.twitter.com/D0PaUDTVA7

— CHP Oakland (@CHPoakland) September 23, 2017

A driver on 880 lived through one of my greatest random fears (and maybe yours, too?), when a long metal piece of debris flew off of a vehicle and through the windshield of a car behind it.

In an effort to avoid scenarios like the one in the disturbing, gory and NSFW opening scene of the 2005 horror movie The Descent, I've been known to switch lanes or slow waaaaay down to get away from trucks loaded with pipes or poles, especially when those items seem poorly secured. But on a crowded freeway like 880, that's not possible, the driver of a black Mercedes learned Friday.

According to a Facebook post by CHP-Oakland, "an unknown vehicle spilled some of its load on I-880." Then "another vehicle kicked up the debris," where it shot through the front windshield of the car you see in the photos above and below.

Fortunately, no one was in or behind the passenger seat. Otherwise, the tone I'm taking with this piece would have been far more somber, as would the post from the CHP. But with tragedy averted, the CHP was able to take a lighter approach, writing "Luckily these puppies are part feline and used one of their nine lives," which allowed everyone in the Mercedes to walk "away unharmed."

Related: Impressive Genius Tapes Himself To Outside Of Car, Heads Down 880

A post shared by FUNNY VIDEOS AND PRANKS‼️ (@zashtv) on May 14, 2017 at 7:25pm PDT

One man's desperate bid for social media attention ended in three citations, after a man was intentionally taped to the side of a car that was then driven down 880.

The stunt appears to have been in the service of a two-post Instagram account called ZashTV. I say this mainly because the man taped to the vehicle frantically screamed "Zash tv! Zash TV!" throughout the exploit, and because that account's name was emblazoned on the tape used to secure the man to the car.

According to KRON 4, "the person who captured the video...said they drove around Oakland for 30 minutes with his friend taped to the car. When asked why they did it, he said it was because they were 'bored.'"

KRON reports that the demonstration came to an end when Oakland Police issued the aspiring Jackasses (my god, can you believe it's been 15 years since new episodes of that show were on the air?) three citations.

According to the caption on the Instagram video above, "OMG IF THIS DONT GO VIRAL ILL QUIT! IF IT DOES THEN ILL KEEP GOING" Do 3,122 views of the video (at publication time) constitute "viral"? If so, we can likely expect more from this band of brilliance. Good luck, gentlemen. Something tells me you'll need it.

Related: Video: Skateboarder's Totally Sick Hallidie Plaza Noseslide

Traffic is backed up on 880 in the East Bay this afternoon, as a big-rig fire has forced the shutdown of the interstate near an Emeryville off-ramp. A tipster writes in that "All lanes of 880 [are] blocked on the ramp just before the merger, but 580/80 east bound lanes are clear."

Emergency crews are reportedly on the scene, and according to the Chronicle reports of the fire started coming in around 1:00 p.m.

Drivers are tweeting out photos of the burning truck and accompanying smoke, and Caltrans confirms that northbound I-880 to eastbound I-80 are closed as a result of the blaze.

Update: As of 5:00 p.m., the lane was still closed as crews worked to clean up spilled fuel.

A massive crowd of demonstrators have blocked Interstate Highway 880 in Oakland this evening, completely shutting it down in both directions.

According to SFist assistant editor Caleb Pershan, who is at the scene, an estimated thousand demonstrators have taken over the freeway, the culmination of a protest against the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota that began at Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The group turned into a march by 7:25, moving north on Broadway. By 8:38, the protest had converged on 880 near the Broadway exit.

By 12:18 a.m., the Oakland Police Department reported that the size of the demonstration had dwindled to around 100 participants. As of 1:15 a.m., both northbound and southbound lanes had reopened, according to the California Highway Patrol.

According to a statement sent by OPD, vandalism was reported on Oakland's Police Administration Building. Broken windows and graffiti were also reported at some neighboring businesses, and a Caltrans signboard was set on fire on 880, police said.

An as-yet unspecified number of people were arrested during the demonstration

Previously: Rally For Alton Sterling, Philando Castile Planned In Oakland Tonight

#BREAKING: AVOID I-880 in #Hayward. Big rig on it's side. All SB lanes closed https://t.co/0w3Nhvu0HD pic.twitter.com/HMqmtQG6N1

— KRON 4 News (@kron4news) April 15, 2016

The Friday commute started off a slow one for the throngs of drivers backed up on I-880 near Hayward after a big rig carrying wine (no word as to the vintage) flipped on the center divider — blocking both southbound and northbound lanes when it finally came to a rest. According to KRON4, the wreck occurred around 3:00 a.m. and led to spilled diesel across the interstate — but not that much wine.

Immediately after the collision, all southbound lanes were closed.

The are conflicting reports as to what caused the crash, with KRON4 reporting that a car hit the wine truck — causing the truck to then hit the center divider — before the car's driver reportedly fled the scene on foot. Fox 2, on the other hand, is reporting that the crash may have been caused by an abandoned car on the freeway. CHP is investigating, and asks any witnesses to contact them.

Regardless of the cause, it was slow going getting the roadway cleared. Apparently, because of the value of the cargo, all the crates of wine on the truck had to be removed by hand before the trailer could be towed away. Fox 2 reports that the big rig driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and although all lanes of the freeway fully reopened just before 8:00 a.m. this morning, there may be some residual traffic effects after that time.

Related: Video: Damn Fools Doing Donuts On 880 In Oakland [UPDATED]

The ongoing spate of doughnut-spinning sideshows on Oakland streets brought at least two separate sideshows in different locations Friday night, and one on Sunday that briefly shutdown the I-880 freeway. No injuries or arrests were reported this time, though as you can see in the video shot above at an unidentified location, there were a lot of close calls between spinning cars and onlookers!

Another incident caught on video and picked up by CBS 5 and KRON 4 shows a separate sideshow at the High Street on-ramp of 880, where circular skid marks now darken the whole intersection.

News reports have focused on the fact that Oakland Police were nowhere to be found, particularly at the High Street incident, though police can be seen attempting to approach in the video above. The Oakland Police and the CHP have been frustrated by the sideshow phenomenon for over a decade now, with a particular uptick in the last several years. Residents around High Street say sideshows happen there about twice a month now.

On Friday, as ABC 7 reports, two CHP cruisers had to be pulled away from a fatal motorcycle accident on 580 in order to go check on one of the sideshows.

It's now common for the sideshows to be set to music and uploaded to YouTube, like this one from January, and as you can see in both of the newer videos, multiple videographers are on hand to capture each event.

Further, here's video of another sideshow involving dirtbikes and cars that took place just yesterday, Sunday, in the "Sunday Funday" tradition of Oakland sideshows, snarling traffic on a section of I-880 in East Oakland.

A series of rolling sideshows like the one above on a Sunday last August led to the death of one participating motorcyclist who was trying to flee from police.

Earlier this year Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo proposed a possible solution to the public nuisance and potential danger of illegal sideshows by providing fairgrounds for sanctioned sideshow events. It's not clear if his proposal has gotten off the ground.

All previous coverage of Oakland sideshows on SFist.

Oakland's grand tradition of sideshows continued Sunday with another freeway-closing doughnut rally that stopped traffic on I-880 for an indeterminate amount of time. As KRON4 reports, the driver of red Mustang you see spinning and hitting a center median in the video above (shot by Thomas Imbro) was ultimately arrested by CHP officers for reckless driving.

This all happened near the 66th Avenue off ramp in East Oakland, in the westbound lanes.

As SFGate reports, CHP Officer Sean Wilkenfeld says he was pelted with rocks by participants before officers were able to get the situation under control. He says they've identified multiple participants who may face charges.

Sunday's fun day for sideshow enthusiasts follows on a November rally at the Port of Oakland that happened amid protests of the Ferguson verdict. In that sideshow, a stolen car was set on fire.

And remember the massive "orchestrated multiple sideshow event" that rolled across many locations one Sunday last August?! That was awesome terrible and illegal and no fun at all.

UPDATE: Original footage pulled overnight. Luckily, we found a copy of it, which you can find below.

UPDATE 2: Here's more footage via the other side of the freeway.

A few cretins took to 880 North in Oakland, Calif.yesterday to do donuts in the middle of the day, in the middle of the road. In a video titled "Out here shuttin shit down," Crick Filippi posted the following video to Facebook that, according to Jalopnik, "shows some Mustangs, a Camaro and 240SX doing some spins on the highway." That is "until someone announces that the Five-Oh are comin'," prompting the drivers to flee the scene. Ugh. Behold:

Okay, it looks kind of cool, sure. But still: what a bunch of dolts.

Arrests TK.

The author of the recently published Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) is on the west coast at this very minute doing "lots of media" and guest-blogging for Powell's Books.

But NOT appearing in San Francisco.

As far as we know.

What, traffic not bad enough on Market St.?

880 moving too smoothly for you?

Guest-blogging for Modern Times not good enough for you? You have to go to Portland to talk about traffic?

I guess we'll have to make do with listening again to your appearance on Fresh Air and reading your blogs at Powell's and at www.howwedrive.com.

Our favorite Tom Vanderbilt blog moment: where you honor The Physics of Traffic, by Boris Kerner, with this unequivocal recommendation: "If you're going to buy only one physics of traffic book this year, this would be the one."

Our favorite Fresh Air moment: where that lady asks you about bicycle traffic in the Netherlands, and you reply: "It's a really interesting question, and it gets so complicated I really should write a bicycle sequel."

Shivers. No, really: shivers.

After the jump: Bay Area traffic isn't really that bad.