Results tagged “traffic”

A big rig driver lost control of his truck at 3:30 a.m. this morning while negotiating the infamous S-curve on the Bay Bridge. The vehicle plunged 200 feet onto Yerba Buena Island, killing the driver. The far right lane was reopened at 7:45 a.m., but CHP expects residual delays. The driver, who was transporting pears, was going ten miles over the speed limit, and investigators suspect the truck's cargo might have shifted, helping to cause the crash. The bridge did not experience any structural damage from the crash.

            

After a cable rod snapped during last night's commute, the Bay Bridge closed down indefinitely. Here are some images of just how the closure is affecting San Francisco and the Bay Area today.

After a snapped support cable struck three cars on the upper deck at around 5:45 p.m., the Bay Bridge was shut down in both directions this evening to check the structural integrity, according to ActionNewsSF.

Westbound travelers going over the bridge, listen up: a Safeway big rig truck overturned on the Bay Bridge, which has since caused an INSANE amount of traffic back-up. According to KTVU, the big rig tipped over at the new s-curve portion of the bridge on the top part of the span. The accident happened around 2:30. It's blocking "4 out of 5 lanes."

by Chris Jones

After a water main broke early Sunday morning near Van Ness, leaving three apartment buildings between Vallejo Street and Pacific Avenue without H2O for the day, three northbound lanes of San Francisco's main artery were closed down. This morning, however, at 8 a.m., Van Ness reopened. With many of the water lines in the area being "nearly 100 years old," an 8-inch pipe snapped due to years of wear and tear. The rupture, CBS 5 / BCN goes on to report, "the rupture caused the pavement on Van Ness Avenue to bulge and crack due to water pressure below the surface of the roadway."

Kristian Valmadrid, a 29-year-old Roseville man, according to CBS 5, walked into the path of a big-rig on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 Wednesday morning, just south of the Carquinez Bridge," resulting in his immediate death. The incident happened a little after midnight this morning. CHP officers, who pulled over to check out a "green Toyota 4Runner parked on the right shoulder of eastbound Highway 80 near Pomona Street," spotted the man who quickly and fatally darted off into traffic. No word yet as to whether it was a suicide or bizarre accident.

You might want to reconfigure your route home, readers. According to ActionNewsSF, who have been updating all afternoon on today's underground Tenderloin fire, "Northbound Van Ness [is] closed, O'Farrell, Polk and Larkin also closed. Traffic on Hyde is a mess." And don't even think of taking the 47 or 49 buses right now. We'll update around the 5 o'clock hour with more traffic details, which (hopefully) might ease as the day wears on. Also, according to abc7newsBayArea, "The shelter in place around O'Farrell and Polk has been lifted." Update: Word is "[a]s of 3:00 p.m., the 47 and 49 routes have resumed normal service. The 19 and the 38 are still being re-routed." Update II, "Traffic moving again on Van Ness, Larkin, and Hyde. O'Farrel & Polk still closed. Traffic lights out at various intersections."

        

Breaking news, folks. According to Alert SF, "Avoid the area of Polk / O'Farrell for next hour due to fire in underground vault. Heavy smoke. Traffic in area is impacted." Also, as always, you could very well get shot and killed at Polk and O'Farrell, or groped by bachelor party revelers from the nearby O'Farrell Theater, so do be careful

Caltrans will extend Labor Day Weekend's Bay Bridge closure by an additional day. The extra day is needed to seamlessly shove in a section of bridge bypass at the tunnel. So, the bridge will close at 8 p.m. on Thursday Sept. 3, then open again at 5 a.m. on Tuesday Sept. 8. The bridge, by the way, will be closed in both directions. According to reports, this extra day will make "the first non-holiday weekday that the bridge has been closed since 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed part of the bridge deck."

It's been a chaotic morning on the roads. First, a multi-car crash screwed up the commute on the Bay Bridge. Now, according to Action News SF, "The Ninth St[reet] off-ramp from Northbound 101 is completely closed [due to] to an injury accident involving a cement truck." Traffic head to the East Bay, though, looks fine -- at least according to the view outside SFist HQ.

Drivers without FasTrak, be sure to get one within the next year to avoid further cash bridge toll headaches. In an effort to decrease toll-collection costs, ease congestion, and encourage more drivers to pay tolls electronically, the Bay Area Toll Authority will likely be eliminating at least one cash lane on seven Bay Area bridges and adding an additional FasTrak-only lane on the Bay Bridge, the San Mateo Bridge, and the Carquinez Bridge, which would be open during commute hours. The new FasTrak-only lane on the Bay Bridge would be ready by next summer. The changes would cut the number of toll collectors by about 10 percent, and savings are calculated to amount to "several million dollars."

We Californians just can't drive in the rain, period. According to Action News SF, "CHP now says accident on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge involves 5 vehicles, none of which are a bus." Which would explain the MASSIVE backup of angry vehicles outside SFist HQ on Third Street, (Seriously, every single driver has the heft of their weight on their car horns. Jerks.) So, there will be long delays getting back home, East Bay dwellers. Might want to re-think your route, or stay in the city for a bit longer.

On Saturday, the arrival of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with an Earth Day festival and "special farmer's market celebrating the elimination of plastic bags" (chortle), means that you'll want to stay as far away from Berkeley streets as possible. For his visit, the city will shutdown Allston Way between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King, Jr., Way from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At 2 p.m. he'll be at the Greek Theatre, and at 3:45 he'll chat at the Berkeley Community Theater. Also, according to SFGate, "expanded bike parking will be available at Civic Center Park, and the city's car-share fleet will be relocated to the south side of Center Street, east of Milvia, for easier access." What's more, the Earth Day Festival is scheduled to part hard from noon to 5 p.m. at Civic Center Park, 2151 Martin Luther King, Jr. Taking public transit is strongly encouraged. You've been warned.

According to LiveJournaler extraordinaire and soon-to-be SF expatriate Jameth, there's a medical emergency at the Powell Muni station, causing chaos. According to his Twitter message, "Medical emergency at Powell station outbound. Muni meltdown. Pls use surface routes kthx. [2:58 p.m.] " Please adjust your route home accordingly. .

A pedestrian was killed early this morning at around 4:30 a.m. after being struck while walking on a connector ramp between two highways. According to reports, the fatal incident happened on a connector ramp between northbound Interstate Highway 280 and southbound state Highway 1. The unidentified victim died at the scene.

The Bay Bridge will close down over the Labor Day weekend. Again. CalTrans announced today that they will shutdown the bridge across the bay in both directions on Friday night, Sept. 4, until Tuesday morning, Sept. 8. According to SFGate,"the closure will allow construction crews to cut a portion of the existing double-deck eastern span near Yerba Buena Island, and slide it out. In its place, they'll roll in a new double deck section that will re-route traffic onto a curving temporary bypass for three to four years." This work is all a part of the new eastern span, which is expected to open in 2013.

While tomorrow's funeral for the four Oakland police officers is anticipated to draw 18,000 people to the Oracle Arena, almost every East Bay freeway will be affected as the bodies of Oakland Police officers Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Sgt. Ervin Romans, Sgt. Daniel Sakai, and Officer John Hege and their families make their way to and from the funeral. According to KNTV, "processions will come from Tracy, Danville, Concord and Castro Valley which will effect nearly every East Bay freeway. Specifically it] will impact Highway 880, Interstate Highway 980, state Highway 238, Interstate Highway 680, and Interstate Highway 580."

"Traffic Jam" by Darwin Bell.

The Bay Area's first-ever "high occupancy toll" lane will hit 680 next year. The HOT lanes, according to KCBS, "would be designated for non-carpool drivers who pay a toll to use a high occupancy vehicle or HOV/carpool lane." In addition to easing traffic and generating revenue, the HOT lanes will now allow solo drivers to take a ride in the VIP lanes. The premiere HOT lane will "stretch 14 miles on southbound 680 between Alameda and Santa Clara counties."

After an eastbound train rammed into "an object" in the Transbay Tube this afternoon, riders can expect delays of "at least 35 minutes." Trains are running on a single track through the tube, so, you know, plan accordingly.

According to AlertSF: "Avoid the area of Webster/Union due to traffic restriction until at least 12:20 p.m." You might also want to steer clear for the Embarcadero and Marina Green area due to the Rally for Reproductive Rights & 5th Annual Walk for Life West Coast rallies going on today.

Due to a "system-wide signal interruption," according to a Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dun, service has come to a standstill. It has something or other to do with a "computer malfunction in the main signal operating system in the San Jose yard." SFist readers have also told us that they're stuck at Bayshore. It is not yet known just when service will be fully restored. In related news, there was a "stage 3 at central," whatever that means, on Bart that resulted in a train getting stuck under the bay. Bart service, though, seems to be running as usual now.

Beginning today, UCB will offer free downloads of a new software program for your cell that will help "unjam" traffic congestion. The program, which uses a global positioning system, is part of a project called Mobile Millennium. Berkeley researchers claim the new phone program will "provide live traffic conditions" and "tell people how long their commute will take and help them avoid traffic by steering them to less congested roads." The futuristic new app will also tell you when you how late you will be to a specific destination. Cool. The software program is only available to those of you with GPS-equipped cellphones. (CBS 5)

All southbound lanes of 880 at Broadway in Oakland are closed after a big rig crash. Drives are advised to use I-580 eastbound until further notice. Word is that said big rig is leaking loads of diesel fuel too. Oy. Stay tuned for more updates as they come to us.

Although BART service has been restored -- a technical SNAFU cut off service between the Montgomery BART station and Daly City -- you can expect delays throughout the morning. According to BART spokesman Linton Johnson, "delays throughout the system are expected and service through San Francisco is limited" for the next few hours. Good morning! (SFGate)

TODAY: Critical Mass, 6 p.m. Bicycle ride will begin from Justin Herman Plaza and end all up in your face. You've been warned.

According to KTVU's Gasia Mikaelian, a fire on Yerba Buena Island is affecting traffic on the Bay Bridge. It's on the west side of Yerba Buena just under the bridge. It is not inside the tunnel, you see, but on the vegetation on the hill. So far one lane is blocked on the southwest side of the bridge. You might want to re-plan your commute home; there's no guess as to when the fire will be put out.

As incredible as it sounds," says the regally named Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., SFMTA's Executive Director, in this morning's glowing press release, "preliminary ridership reports show that Muni had over 117,000 additional boardings this weekend, which included three Giants games at AT&T Park and the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park on opposite ends of The City."

A cracked rail at the Lake Merritt BART Station will cause delays all say long, possible lasting well into the evening. According to ABC 7, the "hairline crack is inside the Oakland Y - the underground maze of trackway where all five lines converge." This means you can expect up to 30-minute delays since it's forcing trains to use single track. Plan accordingly. UPDATE: Damn you, ABC 7 news team. You made it sound like mass hysteria. Turns out BART is "back on track." Crisis averted.