Posted on 04/29/2007 4:44:32 PM PDT by farlander
OAKLAND, Calif. - A stretch of highway near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed Sunday after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames, leaving one of the nation's busiest spans in a state of near paralysis. Officials said traffic could be disrupted for months. ADVERTISEMENT
Flames shot 200 feet in the air and the heat was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the accident showed [Al Kiada] how fragile the Bay area’s transportation network is
I was thinking about this earlier today. The Bay area is very earthquake conscious and much of it is built to withstand serious shakes. Vulnerability to high temps is often a very different problem and not always addressed with the same solution.
Good one.
Yea...really...where is that jackass from Utah?
Steven Earl Jones
STFU
Your career is over...way to waste a PhD...
^&#$HEAD...
What this means in practical terms, for those of us who are forced to rely upon it or pay $15 a day for parking, is that every bum in the Bay Area will be sleeping on BART trains tomorrow morning. They take up between 2 and 12 seats each, depending upon when they last bathed and whether or not it’s flu or allergy season.
Thanks Arnold but I’d rather pay the three bucks and be able to breath on the train.
People claim that fire couldn’t have melted the steel supporting the Twin Towers.
Maybe it is true and maybe not, but nobody ever mentions the fire melting the steel rebar in the concrete slabs supporting the floors.
Maybe it is true and maybe not, but nobody ever mentions the fire melting the steel rebar in the concrete slabs supporting the floors.
Jet fuel burns much hotter than gasoline...
...Cross said Mosqueda had been driving for Sabek Transportation, of South San Francisco, for 10 months. He was carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline from a Benicia refinery to a gas station on Hegenberger Road in Oakland.According to a company statement, Mosqueda has a safe driving record. The company described his escape from the wreck as "miraculous" and said it is cooperating with the investigation into the crash. The company also said initial alcohol and drug tests indicate Mosqueda was not under the influence while he was driving.
Cross said Mosqueda has a valid driver's license and no apparent history of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
"At this point, there is no indication of impairment on the part of the driver, but that will be part of our investigation," CHP Commissioner Mike Brown said.
A worker at a nearby sewage treatment plant, Isaac Rodriguez, said he spotted Mosqueda on the connector ramp above as the fire raged.
"I believe he was in shock. He didn't know how badly he was burned," said Rodriguez, who added that he later regretted not trying to get someone to find Mosqueda and pick him up.
"It looked at one point like he was going to go back to the truck," Rodriguez said. "I told him, 'Get out of there!' "
Mosqueda has worked in the past with the Sacramento Valley chapter of Teen Challenge, an international Christian ministry that runs centers for people struggling with addiction and other "life-controlling" problems, according to Escalante.
"If he walked away, it's only because the Lord was with him," said Escalante...
1: Hydrocarbon fire does not melt steel.
2: Freeways are jacketed and bound to their pillars using Re-bar cemented into Asphalt
3: Asphalt is flammable.
The steel did not melt, The Asphault connecting the freeway to the re-bar, which connects to the support pillar melted, causing collapse.
Fact 1: Hydrocarbon fire does not melt steel.
Fact 2: Freeways are constructed with large amounts of Asphalt
Fact 3: Asphalt is flammable.
Asphalt support the free to the pillar melted causing collapse. The steel did not melt.
Like you could achieve blast furnace temperatures in a uncontrolled outdoor setting with only hydrocarbons.
You said, in part: Fact 1: Hydrocarbon fire does not melt steel.
***
I am not questioning your claim, since I have little scientific knowledge myself, but isn’t the fire used by blacksmiths to heat steel for shaping a hydrocarbon fire?
The steel did not melt,..Many are confusing MELTING with "losing tensile strength."
These guys, for instance, got it wrong AND right -- in the same article!From www.mercurynews.com:
...The crash sparked a series of explosions on the lower portion of the ramp where Mosqueda was driving from westbound Interstate 80 to southbound Interstate 880. The intense heat melted the steel screws on the upper deck of the ramp, which was built in the 1950s.The freeway collapsed more or less for the same reasons that the World Trade Center towers did on Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The steel supports were baked at, and probably beyond, 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which steel turns to rubber, said Astaneh, who studied the WTC collapse for the National Science Foundation and also studied the MacArthur Maze after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
"When steel gets that warm, it loses its strength and can0not carry its load any more," he said...
"Absolutely not. This simply proves that Bush caused the freeway collapse, too."
God i hope you are being sarcastic... if not You all have nothing better to do than point the finger of blame at somebody...so first person you think of is the leader of the FREE world...yup makes sense to me... not
I failed to add /sarc
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