Bay Bridge SNAFU Greets Tourists
"It felt like something fell on top of my car."
By JESSICA GREENE
Updated 12:44 PM PST, Wed, Oct 28, 2009
Evelyn Mau and her husband got a rough start to their Bay Area vacation. The couple, who had just flown in from Canada, had no idea what hit their rental car as they drove over the Bay Bridge during Tuesday's commute.
"I don't know what happened." Mau said as she waited outside the car on the windy bridge. "I'm so scared ... I just drove and it felt like something fell on top of my car."
That something was a cable and a large piece of steel that broke off the bridge and smashed into Mau's the car and two other vehicles.
Her husband said he never saw it coming.
"We're driving along and all of a sudden just 'smash!'," he said.
The cable sliced through the front of the car, smashed the windshield and sliced the tires.
"It was a big noise -- I don't know what happend." Mau said "Just 'bang' on my car. My windshield broke and my hood just totally destroyed."
Mau and her husband were not hurt.
Jose Villalobos was driving a Ryder truck when he saw a thick cable swinging toward him in the wind. The cable crushed part of the truck but not the cab. He says he realizes he's lucky to have survived unscathed.
Caltrans determined that the cable is part of the eyebar repair project that crews carried out over Labor Day weekend.
Two high-strength rods were installed to shore up a crack.
The bridge will be closed indefinitely for repairs.
First Published: Oct 28, 2009 8:08 AM PST
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