Slow Going

The alternate route was longer and much, much slower.

On a good day we can make the drive from San Antonio Road to Foster City in 20 minutes. Tuesday wasn’t a good day.

A van rear-ended a tanker truck (no one was hurt, thankfully), and 2,000 gallons of fuel spilled onto the northbound lanes of Highway 101. North 101 was shut down--as were the southbound lanes a few minutes later--to guard against a stray spark igniting an explosion.

Everyone exited to the surface streets, and after waiting through several light changes. I finally pointed the car uphill and crawled toward Highway 280. We averaged 15 MPH and got home in two hours.

The freeway was closed through the evening as Caltrans pumped the fuel and kept it from draining into the Bay. Another problem was that the gas corroded the rubber-based asphalt, so the road had to be repaved. The freeway reopened by Thursday evening. The commute was back to normal---better, actually, because we were driving nearly at the speed limit in the rain.

Caltrans is notorious for being a wasteful bureaucracy (affirmed by anecdotes from friends who work there), but it performed well during this emergency, as well as during the planned replacement of an upper deck section of the Bay Bridge last Labor Day weekend. Both occasions required planning, execution, and training to pull off in a timely manner.

When a government organization is effective, I am first surprised, then grateful. (I can’t think of any that are effective and efficient.) At least Caltrans is getting the job done. © 2008 Stephen Yuen