In a statement that has us at the Clog rather terrified, a UC Berkeley structural engineer had some choice words to say about the Bay Bridge. Spoiler alert: he is not a fan.

Yesterday, Professor Abolhassan Astaneh said the Bay Bridge has not been safe since the eyebar repair that had to be performed over Labor Day weekend.

“You have to shut down this bridge immediately,” said Professor Astaneh.”There’s no doubt about it.” read more »

Bad news for lovers of driving into San Francisco and uncrowded BART trains; the Bay Bridge is currently closed indefinitely after pieces from a repair made over Labor Day weekend came crashing down and hit three cars. The incident took place late Tuesday afternoon and was coincidentally in the same location as a critical flaw that was discovered and repaired during the bridge’s Labor Day  closure. read more »

This is a teeny bit old, but we think it’s cool enough (albeit kind of unlikely to come to fruition) to post about anyway:

Ronald Rael, a Berkeley professor of architecture, has come up with a plan that would turn the now-unused section of the Bay Bridge into a park and other stuff that you can’t drive on, like a bicycle pathway, rental residential areas, swimming pools and tennis courts. read more »

Hey, if you were the Bay Bridge, you’d probably break under the pressure of being a very important bridge, too. We guess it’s probably not really as bad as all that (we hope) and we’re fairly certain this has happened before. Nevertheless, the “cracked eyebar” that was spotted during an inspection on Saturday may throw a significant wrench–and probably myriad other tools–into the bridge’s reopening, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 5 a.m. So if you were planning on traversing that particular mass of metal tomorrow, you might want to develop a Plan B.

Damage to Bay Bridge May Delay Tuesday Morning Reopening [SF Appeal]

Um, of course you do. So get your butt on BART this Friday morning sometime between 6 and 9 a.m. because that’s when they’ll be giving riders free Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Almond Chocolates, along with coupons, which we assume will lead to more chocolate.

You can pick up your goodies at several of the higher-traffic stations, including the Downtown Berkeley station. Hopefully this will make the pissed off commuters who can’t drive over the Bay Bridge a little less vicious. Yeah, in case you haven’t heard about it yet, the Bay Bridge will be closed starting this Thursday at 8 p.m. until Tuesday at 5 p.m. Heads up.

Image Source: slambo_42 under Creative Commons
BART Thanks Riders With Free Ghirardelli Chocolate on Friday [SFist]
Bay Bridge Closure [Bay Bridge Info]

A fire has taken out part of the Bay Bridge entrance causing it to be closed. The Chron has some gnarly pictures of the bridge folded and tearing like a piece of paper.A tanker full of gasoline overturned and we presume exploded into the blaze:

bq. The tanker, which was full of vehicle-ready gasoline, seems to have disappeared. One Caltrans worker at the scene held up his thumb and forefinger an inch apart to describe how big the tanker is now.

The bridge is still open, though, if you’re going to the city. From the CoCo:

bq. Although the collapse has closed Interstate 580 approaching the Bay Bridge, motorists can continue to use Interstate 80 to get to and from San Francisco over the bridge.

Tanker fire destroys part of MacArthur Maze [SF Gate]
Roadway leading to Bay Bridge collapses after tanker explosion [The CoCo]
Section of Highway Collapses in Oakland Due to Overturn of Gas Tanker [Daily Cal]