At what temperature does a freeway melt?

by Kris   ⋅   April 30, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Usually when someone says “Emeryville”, us folks in the Peninsula and South Bay think “ah, Ikea” (before the one opened up in East Palo Alto of course). Now we’ll be thinking “melted freeway”. Early Sunday morning, a gasoline tanker truck crashed on the MacArthur Maze - the congested loops of interchange ramps bordering downtown Oakland and about a half mile away from the Bay Bridge toll plaza. The temperature from its flames (over 2750°) was so intense that one part of the overpass crumpled from the heat and the entire section collapsed. Footage of the fire reminded me of molten glass strips stretching or burning taffy. Incredibly, the truck driver survived and walked to a gas station with second-degree burns to call a taxi to go to a hospital. Speed may have been a factor in the accident.

It was cited by authorities as the worst disruption for commuters since the Loma Prieta earthquake that damaged the Bay Bridge in 1989. Repair costs will run well into the tens of millions of dollars and the state is requesting federal disaster assistance. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a State of Emergency and commuters were “treated” to free public transportation from the East Bay today.

Here’s an image comparing damage caused by Mother Nature and Man: the Loma Prieta earthquake damage to the Bay Bridge in 1989 (left) and the recent Macarthur Maze meltdown (right).

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