7 ms·

Unprecedented Teamwork Repairs Collapsed Freeway in Record Time (2007)

buss 7y ago
1 month to repair a freeway for single-occupancy cars. Over twenty years to make a single lane of Geary Blvd buses-only (and still not done!) We have the ability to do things quickly, but our government made it illegal unless there's an emergency.
- Anechoic 7y ago
  These aren't the same situation. One is restoring a piece of infrastructure to it's original working condition, the other is making a substantial change in infrastructure that requires due diligence. The latter can certainly be more efficient, but it will never be (and shouldn't be) done in a month.
  - forwhomst 7y ago
    Actually, hours after this trucker blew up the freeway, caltrans was on the streets of oakland grinding up a bike lane to make an extra lane for cars, no public input required. “Diligence” is how they delay green transportation projects only.
    - Anechoic 7y ago
      caltrans was on the streets of oakland grinding up a bike lane to make an extra lane for cars, If this was related to the fire, and temporary, it doesn't need a review. If it was permanent and done without review, I'd like to see a reference to this.
      - forwhomst 7y ago
        It's 2020 and we still don't have the bike lane back.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    the other is making a substantial change in infrastructure that requires due diligence No, the transit improvements on Geary (and anywhere else in the city) are not slow in coming because of due diligence. The improvements have taken DECADES because NIMBYs stand in the way at every single opportunity. Same shit you see along Van Ness where perpetual scourge Peskin threw a hissy fit over the fucking street lamps. The Napoleon of North Beach ground the whole process to a halt over something so trivial that it could've been dealt with after or during construction. Improvements along Taraval got bogged down after the guy that owns Great Wall Hardware (Albert Chow) did his best to publicly sabotage any change. In that case the MTA had already determined that Tarval was particularly dangerous to pedestrians and transit riders but safety is apparently bad for his business.
    - Anechoic 7y ago
      "The latter can certainly be more efficient [..]"
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        "The latter can certainly be more efficient [..]" Due diligence can be made more efficient but due diligence isn't usually the holdup.
- exabrial 7y ago
  That's exactly what I thought. I think this highlights the extreme inefficiency in the "normal" process unfortunately.
- stevehawk 7y ago
  That government is voted for by the people
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  We have the ability to do things quickly, but our government made it illegal unless there's an emergency. Transit improvements to Geary won't come until the businesses in the Geary Boulevard Merchants Ass'n relent, that's not a government issue (unless you consider Bitchin' Baklava and Wayne Lee, DDS & Associates, etc, etc to be government).
kevingadd 7y ago
> Traffic was moving smoothly. There were hardly any backups. Buses, trains, and ferries ran at full capacity. Those who didn’t use public transit altered their normal routes, and stayed away from The Maze. The predicted gridlock failed to materialize. The “free transit day” was an unqualified success. Interesting to think about how much economic value could be recovered if we got transit utilization up to those levels on a regular basis. No magic bullets exist, but we collectively spend a lot of money on regular commutes and pay a lot in terms of road upkeep, climate impact, wasted time etc that might be mitigated if we managed to set up incentives like that on an ongoing basis.
- vl 7y ago
  There is an easy solution: make roads pay-per-use with price based on the utilization. This will quickly reshape cities and change public transit since the price will be transparent to everyone. More businesses would move out creating better, more evenly developed territories.
  - wtn 7y ago
    That would require vehicle tracking, and people in the US don't want that. Fuel taxes only work for vehicles that use internal combustion engines. A tire tax is a possible vehicle-neutral option.
    - kevingadd 7y ago
      You'd still need some way to map the tire tax to location of utilization, though. There's no real point in applying a congestion charge to people living in rural areas w/no access to public transit who have to drive to work, it won't have any beneficial impact. Regressive taxation, sort of like sales taxes.
    - vl 7y ago
      In any large US city you need an electronic toll pass for bridges and etc. or get billed by license plate. So tracking is in place already.
    - 7y ago
stevep98 7y ago
C.C. Myers also rebuilt I-10 after the 1994 Northridge quake. 74 days early! https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-06-mn-42778-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-06-mn-42778-...
- abnry 7y ago
  This is a great video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI
- amacbride 7y ago
  Their work on the Bay Bridge replacement structure was also amazing. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/09/04/c-c-myers-gets-praise-for-beating-deadline-again/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/09/04/c-c-myers-gets-prais...
cypherpunks01 7y ago
This is a really great story! The only upsetting thing is that they didn't revisit the bonus amount at the end, so I had to do the math: (50 days - (May 24 - May 8)) * $200,000 = $6,800,000 So it definitely seems like they maxed out the $5m bonus! Nice!
robbrown451 7y ago
It was quite impressive. And BTW, it talks about a horrific accident, but it should be noted that the only injuries were to a truck and a bridge.
- sm4rk0 7y ago
  From CBS News[1]: 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. "I've never seen anything like it," Officer Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol said of the crumpled interchange. "I'm looking at this thinking, 'Wow, no one died — that's amazing. It's just very fortunate." 1: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tanker-fire-causes-ca-highway-collapse/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tanker-fire-causes-ca-highway-c...
  - robbrown451 7y ago
    Ahh ok. I remembered that he walked away, I guess he did get some burns.
camel_gopher 7y ago
C.C. Meyers does not mess around
- plumednom 7y ago
  This was his business, for sure. He went around bidding low on emergency projects with huge bonuses for every day ahead of schedule his crew came in. I read a quote from a caltrans director that he was on the phone with Meyers before the tanker stopped burning. From what I remember he paid his people really, really well and they stayed with him for decades. RIP. He paid his people really well and they stayed with him for decades.
atlgator 7y ago
Atlanta had a similar story in 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse
SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
Weird headline syntax. I read it as "Unprecedented 'Teamwork Repairs' Collapsed the Freeway in Record Time" until I got into the article and realised that it had to be "Unprecedented Teamwork, Repairs to the 'Collapsed Freeway' happen in Record Time"
- oxide 7y ago
  Absolutely, I read it the same way. I was asking myself what a 'teamwork repair' was and how it collapsed a freeway, in record time no less.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
    A "teamwork repair" is when you fix your teamwork, obviously. The fast that it collapsed a freeway is remarkable, so that must be why it's newsworthy. The original headline is word salad.
- nealabq 7y ago
  Me too. My mind switched back and forth between these: ... Teamwork Repairs a Collapsed Freeway ... ... Teamwork Repairs Collapsed a Freeway ...
nealabq 7y ago
I remember that day. I was on my way from up north to catch a flight from Oakland that morning.

buss 7y ago

1 month to repair a freeway for single-occupancy cars. Over twenty years to make a single lane of Geary Blvd buses-only (and still not done!) We have the ability to do things quickly, but our government made it illegal unless there's an emergency.

Anechoic 7y ago
These aren't the same situation. One is restoring a piece of infrastructure to it's original working condition, the other is making a substantial change in infrastructure that requires due diligence. The latter can certainly be more efficient, but it will never be (and shouldn't be) done in a month.
- forwhomst 7y ago
  Actually, hours after this trucker blew up the freeway, caltrans was on the streets of oakland grinding up a bike lane to make an extra lane for cars, no public input required. “Diligence” is how they delay green transportation projects only.
  - Anechoic 7y ago
    caltrans was on the streets of oakland grinding up a bike lane to make an extra lane for cars, If this was related to the fire, and temporary, it doesn't need a review. If it was permanent and done without review, I'd like to see a reference to this.
    - forwhomst 7y ago
      It's 2020 and we still don't have the bike lane back.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  the other is making a substantial change in infrastructure that requires due diligence No, the transit improvements on Geary (and anywhere else in the city) are not slow in coming because of due diligence. The improvements have taken DECADES because NIMBYs stand in the way at every single opportunity. Same shit you see along Van Ness where perpetual scourge Peskin threw a hissy fit over the fucking street lamps. The Napoleon of North Beach ground the whole process to a halt over something so trivial that it could've been dealt with after or during construction. Improvements along Taraval got bogged down after the guy that owns Great Wall Hardware (Albert Chow) did his best to publicly sabotage any change. In that case the MTA had already determined that Tarval was particularly dangerous to pedestrians and transit riders but safety is apparently bad for his business.
  - Anechoic 7y ago
    "The latter can certainly be more efficient [..]"
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      "The latter can certainly be more efficient [..]" Due diligence can be made more efficient but due diligence isn't usually the holdup.
exabrial 7y ago
That's exactly what I thought. I think this highlights the extreme inefficiency in the "normal" process unfortunately.
stevehawk 7y ago
That government is voted for by the people
inferiorhuman 7y ago
We have the ability to do things quickly, but our government made it illegal unless there's an emergency. Transit improvements to Geary won't come until the businesses in the Geary Boulevard Merchants Ass'n relent, that's not a government issue (unless you consider Bitchin' Baklava and Wayne Lee, DDS & Associates, etc, etc to be government).

kevingadd 7y ago

> Traffic was moving smoothly. There were hardly any backups. Buses, trains, and ferries ran at full capacity. Those who didn’t use public transit altered their normal routes, and stayed away from The Maze. The predicted gridlock failed to materialize. The “free transit day” was an unqualified success. Interesting to think about how much economic value could be recovered if we got transit utilization up to those levels on a regular basis. No magic bullets exist, but we collectively spend a lot of money on regular commutes and pay a lot in terms of road upkeep, climate impact, wasted time etc that might be mitigated if we managed to set up incentives like that on an ongoing basis.

vl 7y ago
There is an easy solution: make roads pay-per-use with price based on the utilization. This will quickly reshape cities and change public transit since the price will be transparent to everyone. More businesses would move out creating better, more evenly developed territories.
- wtn 7y ago
  That would require vehicle tracking, and people in the US don't want that. Fuel taxes only work for vehicles that use internal combustion engines. A tire tax is a possible vehicle-neutral option.
  - kevingadd 7y ago
    You'd still need some way to map the tire tax to location of utilization, though. There's no real point in applying a congestion charge to people living in rural areas w/no access to public transit who have to drive to work, it won't have any beneficial impact. Regressive taxation, sort of like sales taxes.
  - vl 7y ago
    In any large US city you need an electronic toll pass for bridges and etc. or get billed by license plate. So tracking is in place already.
  - 7y ago

stevep98 7y ago

C.C. Myers also rebuilt I-10 after the 1994 Northridge quake. 74 days early! https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-06-mn-42778-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-06-mn-42778-...

abnry 7y ago
This is a great video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKjwblp1XI
amacbride 7y ago
Their work on the Bay Bridge replacement structure was also amazing. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/09/04/c-c-myers-gets-praise-for-beating-deadline-again/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/09/04/c-c-myers-gets-prais...

cypherpunks01 7y ago

This is a really great story! The only upsetting thing is that they didn't revisit the bonus amount at the end, so I had to do the math: (50 days - (May 24 - May 8)) * $200,000 = $6,800,000 So it definitely seems like they maxed out the $5m bonus! Nice!

robbrown451 7y ago

It was quite impressive. And BTW, it talks about a horrific accident, but it should be noted that the only injuries were to a truck and a bridge.

sm4rk0 7y ago
From CBS News[1]: 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. "I've never seen anything like it," Officer Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol said of the crumpled interchange. "I'm looking at this thinking, 'Wow, no one died — that's amazing. It's just very fortunate." 1: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tanker-fire-causes-ca-highway-collapse/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tanker-fire-causes-ca-highway-c...
- robbrown451 7y ago
  Ahh ok. I remembered that he walked away, I guess he did get some burns.

camel_gopher 7y ago

C.C. Meyers does not mess around

plumednom 7y ago
This was his business, for sure. He went around bidding low on emergency projects with huge bonuses for every day ahead of schedule his crew came in. I read a quote from a caltrans director that he was on the phone with Meyers before the tanker stopped burning. From what I remember he paid his people really, really well and they stayed with him for decades. RIP. He paid his people really well and they stayed with him for decades.

atlgator 7y ago

Atlanta had a similar story in 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse

SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago

Weird headline syntax. I read it as "Unprecedented 'Teamwork Repairs' Collapsed the Freeway in Record Time" until I got into the article and realised that it had to be "Unprecedented Teamwork, Repairs to the 'Collapsed Freeway' happen in Record Time"

oxide 7y ago
Absolutely, I read it the same way. I was asking myself what a 'teamwork repair' was and how it collapsed a freeway, in record time no less.
- SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
  A "teamwork repair" is when you fix your teamwork, obviously. The fast that it collapsed a freeway is remarkable, so that must be why it's newsworthy. The original headline is word salad.
nealabq 7y ago
Me too. My mind switched back and forth between these: ... Teamwork Repairs a Collapsed Freeway ... ... Teamwork Repairs Collapsed a Freeway ...

nealabq 7y ago

I remember that day. I was on my way from up north to catch a flight from Oakland that morning.