Bay Bridge Lanes Randomly Catch On Fire

If anyone is doing magic on this bridge please stop

The last thing you want to see on your commute home is random fire coming from the ground as you make your way across, of all places, a bridge. According to KRON 4 News earlier last night (July 13. 2015) that’s exactly what happened to a few motorists as they made their way across the bridge on their way home. The eastbound lanes are your lanes of traffic you use to head from the City (San Francisco) to the East Bay ( cities like Berkeley, San Pablo, Castro Valley and Hayward.) According to official reports from the CHP and Caltrans, some debris between the expansion joints and grates in the bridge accumulated enough debris that a passerby’s errant cigarette thrown out the window caused an ignition of the garbage tinder, thus the random fire that drivers passing by saw. Visual journalist Todd Johnson was able to catch a glimpse of the fire as he drove by.

All lanes reopened shortly after once San Francisco CHP officers determined that the cause of the fire was thoroughly investigated, everything was extinguished and motorists were assured their safety before driving across again. Some commentators on KRON 4 aren’t buying the debris story, but that’s the story that officials are telling.

This comes on earlier news that $1.1 million dollars was approved by an oversight committee earlier in the month to make sure that anchor rods are properly sealed after a previous contractor failed to grout them correctly. The bridge has already cost the state more than 6.4 billion dollars and with mounting costs, it’ll be awhile before the Bay Bridge gets any sort of positive media exposure. Until then, please don’t throw your cigarette butts out of your window Bay Area commuters.