Is it possible the the company he was hauling for put him under some very unreasonable schedule, like maybe he was going on too little sleep. I don’t know what the law is on what can be required of drivers. I am not trying to excuse the driver, I’m just wondering it if there might be more cupability for the company.
It’s going to be a “put it back together the way it was” repair. All that’s been destroyed is a two-lane connector running in one direction between two roads, and it fell on and damaged another two-lane, one direction connector. The road that the burning truck was actually on may just need repaving and replacement of a few bolts. They’re in the process of x-raying the structure and doing other tests to ensure the materials are still safe. ie: that the steel’s not warped too badly and that the concrete is still intact.
As a whole, the Maze routes traffic in and out of something like six primary routes. If each road can be routed to each of the other five, and in each direction, that’s what, 30 routes through the junction? The roads themselves are fairly well laid out for what’s involved - it’s the signage that sucks.
Gutting the entire Maze to re-design it might be nice, but that would have financial impact into the trillions of dollars and it would take decades just for the environmental impact reports to bubble their way through the system. Then starts the bidding process, and protests filed that somone’s rigged the bids, and once work starts, someone will pop up and say they were directed by their boss to cover up bad welds and the project comes to a halt while federal investigators dig out and inspect things, and a month later, the feds say the welds are fine and the claim was a hoax to get back at someone, and on and on. You need look only two miles to the west at the Bay Bridge project to see where all of that’s been happening.
Dig deeper people! Don’t be naive sheep swallowing everything the mainstream media tells you!
That’s Brilliant! 
It says something about these times that I’m not 100% sure that’s a joke.
OH, it’s a joke. The best comment from the comments section –
User: Evil Jew
Comment: We did it.
I don’t any signage in the world, even if written by Shakespeare, would make it easier to get through. I actually have to go through there only 2 or 3 times a year, and don’t have big problems after my first trip.
As a challenge for Dopers who think it can be improved, take a look at all the roads that connect and suggest a better layout. Space warps are not allowed!
But I’m pretty sure there are space warps in the Maze as it is now. How else can 80 West and 580 East be the same freeway?
In my experience drivers get screwed as a standard practice. Their schedules are typically unreasonable and if they don’t meet them they may find themselves looking for another job. Drivers have pretty much no recourse against there companies when it comes to the safety of themselves and their vehicles until something like this does happen. There is always a pool of new drivers willing to accept this for a decent paying job that requires little education. The system is set up to punish drivers for infractions concerning speed, accidents, and weight when they aren’t the ones that set their timetable or load their trucks.
Overall it’s a shitty thing to happen. It probably could have been prevented. Someone fucked up, shit happens. People fuck up at work every day. Unfortunately for this guy he fucked up while hauling a load of gasoline.
Jurph, I’m not in San Francisco, but do you think you could explain this to my boss?
I’ve got a job where I speak with other people face-to-face for work-related stuff for maybe 3 hours/week. The customers call on the phone or email. I’ve had jobs like this where telecommuting was perfectly fine on any day when you didn’t have meetings (and conversely, any meetings had to be organized by noon of the previous day at the latest). My current boss doesn’t accept telecommuting. Ever :smack:
I’ve been threatened by my TA with “having any bit that survives thoroughly killed by inmersion into a series on concentrated acids and bases, reanimated and killed again” if myself or my co-students went beyond the intended mono- and di-nitrotoluene… does that count as a semi-acceptable susbtitute for driving a truck of Dynamite? We were all vewwy, vewwy caweful.
I firmly believe that for companies that don’t allow telecommuting when they could, it’s purely a power thing. If you aren’t there under their thumb, how can they control you and let you know that they are your superior?
And it goes south!
Speed was undoubtedly a factor, but the likely root causes were far worse. This driver and truck had numerous citations:
It amazes me that this truck was allowed to operate at all, and that the officers of the trucking company aren’t criminally liable.
Thats for balance. 101 South goes East near where I work.
Being from New York, the water is always to the East anyway for me, so the roads make perfect sense.
Two updates:
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It’s happened again! Luckily, this (link may require free registration) incident didn’t involve a bridge melting, just the roadway.
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In response to the incident described in the OP, one reader submitted a letter to the editor of the Deseret Morning News, essentially telling Dr. Steven E. Jones that the good doctor needed to learn a bit about Science. Dr. Jones, of course, is the prof who got canned by BYU and also blames Bush for blowing up the WTC. So, here is the doctor’s response. I really got a laugh out of this bit:
And he wonders why he got canned. :rolleyes:
On a happy note, C. C. Myers says he’ll have the connector open next Thursday, a week earlier than his original claim, and month earlier than hoped for by Caltrans.
Apparently, while everyone was gnashing and wailing about not having steel two weeks ago, Mr. Myers was already making plans and bringing in steel from Pennsylvania before he even had the contract. Smart cookie!
I imagine the early completion time amounts to a huge bonus, eh?
In the meantime, I drive by the gap every day and always think, "Man oh man, I totally want to jump that! Just like in Speed. 
“But it’s on the goddammed map!”
As for bonus, yes - $200,000 per day, with a $5,000,000 cap. He’s too fast - June 2 (or so) is the date for getting the most bonus. Getting it done earlier than June 2 won’t get them any more money, but it will get them more adoration from the driving public and further his reputation for getting things done quickly - he rebuilt the Santa Monica Freeway in LA after the Northridge quake in 1994 more than two months earlier than planned.
Those not in the Bay Area should be aware that they seriously underbid on the original proposal - somewhere just over $800K i IIRC. So, they put their money down for doing it fast. I doubt there is a person in the Bay Area - even someone like me who seldom goes near the Maze - who begrudges them the money if they can deliver.
Peer reviewed? Who was his peer, Bozo the Clown?
When you make a gamble like buying the steel before you have the bid, you damn well better underbid severely and be damn sure to make it up on time. Because there’s always an idiot estimator or three out there.
(Yes. I worked for road construction. The main estimator was a bookie on the side. A bad bookie. Company rhymed with fail.)