I-880 Cypress Viaduct Construction (part 1 of 5)

Part 1 of 5- Introduction

1950s video from California Division of Highways (later Caltrans) showing the construction of the Cypress Street Viaduct in Oakland, CA.

This highway was originally part of CA-17 but was later I-880 until its destruction on October 17, 1989, in the Loma Prieta earthquake resulting in 42 fatalities when the upper deck collapsed onto the lower deck.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cypress
• street
• viaduct
• oakland
• nimitz
• freeway
• I-880
• CA-17
• caltrans
• division
• highways
• mandela
• parkway

[white93taurusgl]

If they only knew the trouble that would happen 30 years later

[RoadCone411]

Was it really shoddy construction? I think it was a lack of earthquake-proof knowledge back then - obviously they must have known this was a fault zone. But I'm guessing they thought its design would be sufficient. Too bad it wasn't.

[jland904]

Didnt San Francisco learn its lesson in 1906, stop building Major cities on Major Fault Lines,

[1skunkus]

does it creep you to see at 1:19 underneath, seeing those sides knowing they will give out?

[ihatetaft]

Looks very dangerous even then!

[PacificCircle1]

Anyone else ever notice to wavy condition of the lower deck by the 70's and 80's?

[socalltd]

i do not see greed in the flaw of this project. the common design from the 40s to the 1971 quake was used all over the state. it takes a disaster to look at problems. i looked at the damage film posted,what happened in the via duct was very loose ground and reinforcment of the colums. not careless, just something that did not come up or thought of. the entire structure did not fall,

just the northern portion from the on/off ramps at 17th st. look at this clip 2:22 from that colum to hwy 80

[Inspired2004]

I'm sure anyone can see that this is a result of people being greedy and putting money before saftey standards. I wouldn't be surprised to know that many people contested the construction of this freeway especially with this type of design flaw. What makes shit so sad is that most of the freeways in California still exist with the carelessness that the designers had back in the 50's. People are so quick to try to advance the way things are without looking at the potential consequences first.

[thejazzenigma]

Its very interesting that the viaduct in whole started at the Market Street interchange, cause of the maps and this video said so. When they built this, the interchange at Market wasn't even in full form yet.

Danny

[KalesAvenue]

It is amazing to see the light rebar work which contributed to the failure of this structure in 1989. At 3:12 is a good view of the supporting arrangement of vertical rebar used in the columns of this viaduct. During the earthquake the concrete contained by these minimally bundled rebar arrangements burst and the rebar splayed unable to withstand the lateral forces of the quake. The upper fell and crushed the cars on the lower deck. From the street level, there was not much we could do to help.

[jcookjr82]

At around 8:30, you see the water in the pilon pits. I can't see how they did not think liquifaction would be an issue during an earthquake...