Sunday, August 30, 2015

Hwy 101 in Burlingame reopens after 17 hour shutdown following the power transmission tower collapse, but repair crews still at work







The Highway 101 freeway frustration for drivers also meant a slow Saturday for local businesses.






by Cornell Barnard and Sergio Quintana
Saturday, August 29, 2015 10:52PM

BURLINGAME, Calif. (KGO) -- All lanes of Highway 101 in Burlingame were reopened Saturday afternoon after downed power lines forced the freeway closure on Friday night. The far right lane of northbound 101 will remain closed so PG&E crews can continue working.

PG&E has also announced that it will close all lanes of Highway 101 in Burlingame on Sunday, August 30, at 10 p.m. until Monday, August 31, until 4 a.m. to restring and re-energize the power lines.

The Broadway overpass will also remain closed until Monday to accommodate for the repairs. This includes the Broadway and the Anza Blvd exits.

PHOTOS: PHOTOS: Transmission tower collapse closes Highway 101 in Burlingame








CHP leads the way as traffic reopens on southbound Highway 101 in Burlingame, Calif. on Saturday, August 29, 2015. KGO-TV
On Friday night, a PG&E transmission tower collapsed just after 9:30, which caused a huge power surge in the Bay Area. It could be seen as far as AT&T Park, where the lights flickered during the San Francisco Giants game.

The downed high voltage power lines forced the closure of Highway 101 in both directions between Millbrae Avenue and Anza Boulevard in Burlingame. The south bound lanes were reopened Saturday just after 2:30 p.m. The northbound lanes were opened about an hour later.



PG&E crews made good progress on Saturday to remove the power lines across freeway and crumpled transmission tower. There was never a large scale power outage in the area because electricity was rerouted to other lines, according to PG&E.

That closure had some motorists stranded for hours. Harsha Reddy was late for a flight to India leaving from SFO. "We needed to be there 15 mins ago, it's bad," said Reddy on Saturday afternoon.

The freeway frustration for drivers also meant a slow Saturday for local businesses.

As drivers took surface streets to get around the freeway shutdown, traffic snarled through local streets. As s result, a lot of neighbors who would usually make it out for breakfast or shopping, couldn't get into to town, or just stayed home.

"Usually on Saturdays we're pretty busy from the time that we open, usually we'll have people waiting at the door. We didn't today," said Irene Preston, who owns Preston's Candy and Ice Cream.

Despite the inconveniences, officials are thankful there were no injuries.

"We were able to get everyone off the freeway safely, we were able to make the area safe and remove the wires impacted," said PG&E spokesperson Donald Cutler.

PG&E says a third-party construction crew, JAFEC LTD., struck the transmission tower causing high-powered transmission lines to fall onto the highway. Traffic was stopped for over six hours until PG&E could de-energize the lines and safely move drivers out of the way.

Caltrans spokesperson Bob Haus says the incident is still under investigation.



CHP Public Information Ofc. Art Montiel said the holdup on Friday night was due to PG&E waiting for special equipment to arrive to move the cables and make sure the structure was safe.

The construction project that crews were working on is one that is jointly shared by Caltrans and San Mateo County.