There is a definite chill in watching this, knowing what happened to it 32 years later. I saw the news report as an 11 year old the following day on the BBC 6 News in the UK, the haunting image of the sandwiched freeway burned into my brain...
As I just watched in another documentary, those angled columns you see on the Cypress Structure helped contribute to its collapse because pressure was angled outward instead of straight down. The northern part of the structure was build on mud and that also amplified the shaking.
And what an ugly double deck eye sore it was...only to come crashing down 32 years later killing 42 people. A double deck freeway in the most earthquake active part of the country? Outrageous!
Even now, I am still concerned when I drive along certain parts of the Bay Area -- particularly under overpasses. This is especially true of a portion of the Southern Embarcadero Freeway (280) that connects 101 toward King Street. It reminds me of the Cypress (and not in a good way).
Chris M from what I know, it's safe going on 280 through east San Francisco because it was rebuilt in the 1990's with better earthquake-proof engineering
@@ccchhhrrriiisss100 It was specifically designed by earthquake specialist civil engineers to withstand up to 8.5 earthquake. It was shutdown for 4 years and rebuilt. Much safer than being on a regular road in SF thats most likely on landfill
Had this viaduct been properly retrofited when the Feds took it over as an interstate in 1984 and changed it from Hwy17 to Interstate 880, damage could have been less and at the very least it could have saved those who were killed on it.
In 1994, only old structure failed in Los Angeles. Retrofitting was underway but not finished. The only retrofitted section that failed was the 10 @ Fairfax. That section is over dried wetlands. The new bridge is even stronger now.
@Derek The same 5/14 interchange came down after the 1971 Sylmar quake, built a new one, and was taken out, AGAIN, by the 1994 Northridge quake. Time will tell if it survives the next quake.
only half fell and the entire structure had to come down. they would not rebuild a replacement on to the portion that did not fall. after looking at all posted footage of the collapse, i wonder why the other half did not fall. good hearing from you man.
2:58. LOL. "A ride on a portion of the northbound lower deck results in a definite sense of security...there is no feeling of confinement." *headslap* Also @ 3:46 LOL. Stupid cameraman! Little do these guys know that freeways are only a superficial fix for traffic problems. And that building a double-decker in an earthquake zone is a bad idea all around! :-\
Well, if the Earthquake did little to no damage to it, this freeway would have been retrofitted like the 280 north of 101, and would still be standing. :) And the taxpayers wouldn't have had to shell out 1.5 billion to build the new one. :)
the sad irony is that many black and latino familys where kicked out of there houses and torn down so that 32 years later the stupid ass structure would callapse and take 42 people with it ....
Horizontal retrofitted bracing would've definitely saved lives if not the structure itself. Vertical strength was apparent as the beams and columns had to bend away from centerline for failure to occur. Reagan killing the interstate seismic retrofit program killed people!!
@@pacz8114 Hey... if the shoe fits... Reagan killed far more people by ignoring AIDS. (And just to prove this isn't partisan, GHW Bush gets full credit for finally doing something about it...)
@@Dana_Danarosana Conjecture suggests you may have a morose preoccupation with impudently labelling select individuals as "killers". In response, I would recommend your therapist to increase your dosage of Xanax or Klonopin, which, with hope should safeguard all and sundry against what may be a disorder.
@@pacz8114 My goodness... what big word usements you structure!! As for the rest of all that nonsense, I'd argue that not calling a killer a killer just wouldn't be prudent.
1957-1989.... R.I.P CYPRESS VIADUCT - OAKLAND, CA
There is a definite chill in watching this, knowing what happened to it 32 years later. I saw the news report as an 11 year old the following day on the BBC 6 News in the UK, the haunting image of the sandwiched freeway burned into my brain...
3:05 "...results in a definite sense of security..."
@@krnixle That aged like fine milk.
And that was also when they thought freeways would solve all traffic problems.
@@shaynewhite1 They'll be saying the same about bicycles in 50 years - planners thought it would solve all the traffic problems!
As I just watched in another documentary, those angled columns you see on the Cypress Structure helped contribute to its collapse because pressure was angled outward instead of straight down. The northern part of the structure was build on mud and that also amplified the shaking.
And what an ugly double deck eye sore it was...only to come crashing down 32 years later killing 42 people. A double deck freeway in the most earthquake active part of the country? Outrageous!
Well,
You have to remember that not all of the structure collapsed. If you remember, only the portion north of 16th Street collapsed.
Danny
Even now, I am still concerned when I drive along certain parts of the Bay Area -- particularly under overpasses. This is especially true of a portion of the Southern Embarcadero Freeway (280) that connects 101 toward King Street. It reminds me of the Cypress (and not in a good way).
Chris M from what I know, it's safe going on 280 through east San Francisco because it was rebuilt in the 1990's with better earthquake-proof engineering
that section of 280 was shut down and rebuilt after the earthquake to be earthquake proof
@@feedingtime7059 - Thanks! Still, it's still something that I don't want to be driving on during a 6.5+ earthquake.
@@ccchhhrrriiisss100 It was specifically designed by earthquake specialist civil engineers to withstand up to 8.5 earthquake. It was shutdown for 4 years and rebuilt. Much safer than being on a regular road in SF thats most likely on landfill
Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to build a double decker freeway in a location that is notorious for earthquakes?
who the fuck said you could be conceived? maybe mama thought about collapsing her womb bridge with you in it. DUH!!!
Had this viaduct been properly retrofited when the Feds took it over as an interstate in 1984 and changed it from Hwy17 to Interstate 880, damage could have been less and at the very least it could have saved those who were killed on it.
Interesting--in this whole video, the word "earthquake" was not once used.
This last video is so full of irony and blind optomism when hindsight shows us the real fate.
In 1994, only old structure failed in Los Angeles. Retrofitting was underway but not finished. The only retrofitted section that failed was the 10 @ Fairfax. That section is over dried wetlands. The new bridge is even stronger now.
@Derek The same 5/14 interchange came down after the 1971 Sylmar quake, built a new one, and was taken out, AGAIN, by the 1994 Northridge quake. Time will tell if it survives the next quake.
@@willcampbell8997 Apparently, that interchange is located near a fault line
@@mk3a
By definition, any structure in California is near a fault line. A map of all of the known faults makes the state look like a bloodshot eye.
@@mk3a l
Worst mistake ever built in California. What were they thinking making a double decker freeway in a state notorious for earthquakes????
Disruption and pollution of people.
june 11,1957-oct 17,1989 5:04pm the original cypress structure
Without collapsed, I wish I have drove through a whole of this bridge with my 2012 Charger.
no offramps from the lower deck??? Poor people on lower deck had no escape.
_And had they known_ then... 😕
Who was that opening the freeway, Jane Russell?
I don’t remember this freeway I was born in 79 but I remember the earthquake and I was in the bathroom after school when it happened
So what you're saying is that the earthquake made you literally shit yourself?
that was in the 50's. if you told them what has to be done to build it today, i think their heads will spin off!
still well over a mile from the maze to 16th st. and it all came down after the clean-up...
CalTrans surely shitted on West Oakland.
@3:00 Irony of it all!
Damn!! Very ironic.
only half fell and the entire structure had to come down. they would not rebuild a replacement on to the portion that did not fall. after looking at all posted footage of the collapse, i wonder why the other half did not fall. good hearing from you man.
2:58. LOL. "A ride on a portion of the northbound lower deck results in a definite sense of security...there is no feeling of confinement." *headslap*
Also @ 3:46 LOL. Stupid cameraman!
Little do these guys know that freeways are only a superficial fix for traffic problems. And that building a double-decker in an earthquake zone is a bad idea all around! :-\
OK, Einstein design a roadway and show us how it's supposed to be done.
Well, if the Earthquake did little to no damage to it, this freeway would have been retrofitted like the 280 north of 101, and would still be standing. :) And the taxpayers wouldn't have had to shell out 1.5 billion to build the new one. :)
the sad irony is that many black and latino familys where kicked out of there houses and torn down so that 32 years later the stupid ass structure would callapse and take 42 people with it ....
Dwayne Johnson 5 of 6.
Horizontal retrofitted bracing would've definitely saved lives if not the structure itself. Vertical strength was apparent as the beams and columns had to bend away from centerline for failure to occur. Reagan killing the interstate seismic retrofit program killed people!!
Yup. Blame it all on one man. How convenient.
@@pacz8114 Hey... if the shoe fits... Reagan killed far more people by ignoring AIDS. (And just to prove this isn't partisan, GHW Bush gets full credit for finally doing something about it...)
@@Dana_Danarosana Conjecture suggests you may have a morose preoccupation with impudently labelling select individuals as "killers". In response, I would recommend your therapist to increase your dosage of Xanax or Klonopin, which, with hope should safeguard all and sundry against what may be a disorder.
@@pacz8114 My goodness... what big word usements you structure!! As for the rest of all that nonsense, I'd argue that not calling a killer a killer just wouldn't be prudent.
Creepy to the ith degree!