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Bay Bridge Incident Causes Beautiful Traffic Nightmare

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Bay Bridge Spill Traffic

Early on Friday, chaos erupted on Interstate 80 in San Francisco, causing a major traffic backup on the Bay Bridge and a headache for morning commuters. At about 4am, an accident was reported in the westbound lanes of the highway. When responders arrived, it was clear that this wasn’t just a fender-bender. A wet drywall mixture (originally reported as paint) had spilled from about 40 five-gallon drums on a flatbed truck, causing several cars to spin out. The entire westbound side of the roadway had to be closed for cleanup, since the mixture was slick and made the lane markers invisible.


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The highway closure backed up vehicles over the Bay Area Bridge, and the jam was also bottlenecked by toll both lines. According to local news outlets, thousands of drivers were stuck waiting for the highway to reopen.  Check out the spectacular mess below.

We feel very bad for the commuters stuck in traffic, but you have to admit the long line of red taillights looks beautiful and slightly festive for Christmas.  The local ABC affiliate was able to get a great sweeping shot of the lights on the bridge as well.


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The spill cleanup took about two and a half hours, with the road reopening at 6:45am. I-80 continued to be slow moving for the rest of the morning, which probably had many drivers thanking the heavens that it’s the last commute of the week. The driver of the truck is being cited for not properly securing his cargo, and either the driver or the company he works for will have to pay for the highway cleanup.

Photo and News Source: ABC7 News