I-580 connector reopens

2007-05-24 20:53:57 PDT -- Interstate 580 through the MacArthur Maze reopened at 8:40 p.m. Thursday -- just 26 days after a gasoline-fueled inferno caused it to collapse.

The first vehicles rolled east on I-580 from the Bay Bridge toll plaza and passed over the 165-foot stretch of newly laid freeway. A short time earlier, workers ripped canvas and plastic blankets from the concrete roadway poured Sunday afternoon, spritzed the deck with curing compounds, applied lane stripes and gave it a good sweeping.

"First of all we want to thank everyone for their patience," said Bob Haus, spokesman for Caltrans after the reopening. Asked why Caltrans didn't wait until the middle of the night to reopen the maze -- when traffic is almost non-existent. "Our attitude from the beginning was that as soon as it's ready to open, we'll open it."

Some drivers were very enthusiastic about the reopening.

Douglas Spalding, 46, a teacher from Oakland, was on his way home from Trader Joe's in Emeryville when he heard I-580 was about to reopen. Instead of going home, he drove to the Bay Bridge toll plaza parking lot to cut across into east I-80 so that he could be one of the first drivers across the new I-580 connector.

"I go back and forth to the city all the time, so for me it's very convenient," said Spalding, who was driving an older model Toyota Corolla wagon.

The connector, a vital link in the MacArthur Maze, had been closed since April 29 when a gasoline tanker fire on Interstate 880 below caused the steel girders supporting the I-580 connector to bend and pull off their supports.

The elevated roadway's reopening marks one of the most remarkable freeway construction feats in state history.

Contractor C.C. Myers, already famous for repairing the collapsed Interstate 10 Santa Monica Freeway two months ahead of time after the 1995 Northridge earthquake, vowed from the start to work quickly.

When Myers was awarded the contract on May 7 with a low bid of $867,075, he said he could do the job in 25 days -- half the Caltrans estimate.

Myers, based in the Sacramento area, will receive a $5 million bonus -- the maximum -- for finishing the work early. A week ago, Myers told The Chronicle he would reopen the Maze before Memorial Day weekend -- just 17 days after his firm was awarded the contract. He has said he expects his costs to add up to $2.5 million.

The reopening of I-580 will ease the commute for drivers headed to central Contra Costa and the Tri-Valley. And it will dramatically reduce traffic through the streets of West Oakland, through which most of the detours established by Caltrans traveled.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to make an appearance at the site of the repair on Friday.