Results tagged “sanmateobridge”

State-owned bridges like the Bay and San Mateo Bridges may face a toll hike of a dollar (from $4 to $5) in the next year in order to cover costs for retrofitting bridges like the Antioch and Dumbarton bridges, which are apparently also due for collapse in the next big earthquake (along with the Bay Bridge's current eastern span). Why bridges built in the 70s and 80s would need retrofitting is beyond us, but obviously a testament to the fact that government has always cut corners wherever possible. The Golden Gate Bridge, which is privately owned, has had a $5 toll for several years now.

-- San Mateo Bridge shuts down, then opens. Ta-da. [Examiner]

First up, remember May Zhou, the Stanford graduate student who was found dead in her car trunk in Santa Rosa? Well, her father remains convinced it was not a suicide, and cites a private autopsy report he's commissioned that shows blunt force trauma injuries. The offical police report, by contrast, showed no trauma injuries but did indicate toxic levels of Benadryl in her system. Zhou's father will not name the pathologist who conducted the private autopsy, or release his report to the police, though, saying it would jeopardize the investigation. The police say they will certainly look into the matter again and see if a murder was in fact committed.

[sorry we're late today!]

While we were stuck in some really bad traffic this morning, we turned on the radio to get a traffic report and heard that we weren't the only ones having a rough commute

The autopsy of the Stanford student who was found dead in the trunk of her car last month was found to have toxically-high levels of a substance normally found in Benadryl. Her father remains unconvinced it was a suicide, saying maybe someone forced her to take the drug before killing her.

You know, it's not all sweetness and light making so much money that you have to pay estimated taxes every quarter -- a bunch of checks are now missing after the truck carrying them to the IRS for processing accidentally dumped them into the bay. The truck driver got in an accident on the San Mateo Bridge last Sunday and in the hubbub, "thousands of checks" blew into the water. If you're a estimated-tax payer, the IRS has said they'll waive any late fees if they lost your check. The truck had checks from customers in 13 states. (Thanks to SFist Jon for the tip!). If you ever wanted to know what the "bo" in "tae-bo" means, it means "stick." A man allegedly randomly smashing in the windows of dozens Chinatown vendors with a bo was chased down by witnesses and arrested. We're totally into how the guy repairing all the windows put in a plug for himself in the article. "Most of Chinatown I am taking care of, because I am the cheapest. I still have to do a couple on Clay, a jewelry store on Grant and a salon on Powell and Pacific." That's Jimmy Chou of Diamond Glass! And, to squelch the rumors going around the SFPD, Heather Fong has released a statement that the reason why she's been out lately is because she's had an asthma attack when she was out in muggy DC last week, and then decided to take a few days off. Fong will be on standby for the anti-war march this Saturday.

As if a burning truck full of beer wasn't enough, the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transit Comission has just released numbers showing that local commutes are taking 4% longer than before, and ranked the area's top 10 traffic jams. (It's a .pdf, but you're probably used to waiting for things by now!) So here's your top 10: 1) 80 into the city in the mornings; 2) 580 westbound through Livermore in the a.m; 3) 580 going back to Livermore in the afternoon; 4) 80/101 in SF to the bridge in the afternoon; 5) 92 across the San Mateo in the p.m., 6) Highway 4 going west in the afternoon; 7) 101 South from the North Bay to 580 in the morning; 8) 101 N in Marin to 580 in the afternoon, 9) 101 N from 280 into Santa Clara in the morning; and 10) 80 eastbound in the p.m. from Treasure Island into Oakland. We really like how they rank these like the American Top 40 -- 80 west in the morning is number 1 for the FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR! Cracking the top 10 for the first time! The San Mateo Bridge at number 5! 101 in Marin (8)! 101 in Santa Clara (9)! 80 E. past Treasure Island (10)! Bumped from last year's top 10: the Caldecott, 880 N in the afternoon, 101 S from SF to Palo Alto in the afternoon, and 580 in the evening! Sixth-ranked Highway 4 starts backing up by 5:30 a.m.! (Yikes!) On the bright side, everyone says this must be a sign that the economy is picking up. Picture of westbound 80 to the bridge from the Oakland Tribune

Muy Bueno! (Like that one's never been come up with before.) Jennifer Bueno, the woman who was hit in the face by a folding chair at an A's game, finally filed suit against the Texas Ranger who pitched the lawn decor at her husband for his sassy mouth, and the Rangers' organization. One of the reports we heard said that her husband Craig was supposed to be at the press conference too, but he works at the fire house with the three guys who got in the accident and tied up traffic yesterday on the San Mateo Bridge. Police are baffled about the mysterious beating of a 13-year-old foreign student in South San Francisco last week, just blocks from his host family's home. Robbery wasn't a motive, since the boy had all his money and his mp3 player on him. The boy is in critical condition at SF General, and authorities are offering a $12,000 reward for information. And interestingly, remember how the City of Fremont decided not to enforce burglar alarms unless there was proof of an actual break-in? Well, they did a study to see what happened after they adopted the policy, and robberies in the city are actually down 9%. Burglar alarm associations say it's too soon to tell.

Bummer to be driving down to the South Bay today -- a fire truck jackknifed on the San Mateo Bridge and completely blocked all eastbound traffic. The fire truck was on the way to an accident on the bridge between a van and a big-rig at around 6 a.m. when for some unknown reason it spun out of control. One firefighter was rushed to the hospital, and eastbound traffic on the bridge was completely stopped until about 8 a.m. Further compounding drivers' woes, two lanes on 80 in San Francisco were closed because of flooding and, in our usual inability to drive when water falls from the sky, CHP is reporting three times the number of accident calls this morning. How was your commute today?

Bay Area crime roundup