All lanes of Hwy 101 in Burlingame closed due to downed wires

Byby Sergio Quintana, Melanie Woodrow, and ABC7 staff KGO logo

Friday, August 28, 2015

Hwy 101 in Burlingame shut down in both directions

Thousands of drivers were stuck for hours after Highway 101 in Burlingame was shut down Friday night and it is not expected to reopen until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

BURLINGAME, Calif. (KGO) -- All lanes of Highway 101 between Millbrae Avenue and Anza Boulevard in Burlingame are closed due to downed power lines across the freeway.

At 9:33 p.m. a PG&E transmission tower collapsed, causing a big power surge in the Bay Area that could be seen at AT&T Park as the lights flickered during the San Francisco Giants game.

PG&E says a third-party construction crew with an excavator struck the transmission tower causing high-powered transmission lines to fall onto the highway. That caused traffic to stop for over six hours until PG&E could de-energize the lines and safely move drivers out of the way. They said they were waiting for special equipment to arrive on scene.

PHOTOS: Traffic blocked for miles as 101 closed

Northbound traffic is being diverted to Anza Boulevard and southbound traffic is being diverted to Millbrae Avenue.

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

ABC7 News reporter Sergio Quintana was on the scene and said he saw a UPS truck in the northbound direction with a driver stuck inside and power lines on top of the vehicle. In the southbound direction he counted eight passenger vehicles with people trapped inside due to power lines on top of their cars as well. After a few hours, the lines were de-energized and they were allowed to safely leave the highway.

All 22 people who were trapped got out safely.

The power lines that fell were carrying 115,000 volts each and remarkably, there were no injuries reported during the entire ordeal.

Many drivers were stuck in traffic from the time the wires fell onto the early hours of the morning. The CHP tweeted that all southbound and partial northbound lanes could reopen by 2:00 p.m. while Broadway ramps will remain closed.

"We had a collapse of high-energy lines that came down over both sides of US 101 north and southbound and at that point, we had to shut down traffic and divert traffic off the freeway and then call the appropriate resources in play so we could mitigate this," CHP Cmdr. Mark Maskarich said.

"They're still down and they're still hot apparently because people tried to cross the overpass as they were shutting down the freeway and the cops were yelling at them because if they touch any of the fencing over there, they could get killed if it's hot," witness Lee Thompson said.

CHP Public Information Ofc. Art Montiel says the holdup is due to PG&E waiting for special equipment to arrive so they can move all of the cables and make sure the structure is safe.

He says all the wires have been de-energed but are still hanging onto the freeway.

VIDEO: Transmission tower collapses in Burlingame, causes power surge