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For those like to keep saying in 9/11 conspiracy discussions that fire
can't weaken steel and cause a structural failure (and because the
uploader of the recent featured 9/11 footage sees fit to block comments
from anti-conspiracy commenters):


Steel and concrete overpass in Oakland being felled by fire alone following fuel truck explosion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kp69PmhELZA

Overpass Near San Francisco Collapses After Fire
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/us/29cnd-collapse.html


Associated Press
An aerial view of the collapsed freeway overpass near downtown Oakland.

By JESSE McKINLEY and CAROLYN MARSHALL

Published: April 29, 2007

OAKLAND, Calif., April 29 — A fiery pre-dawn tanker truck accident
caused the collapse of a heavily trafficked freeway overpass near
downtown today, sending hundreds of feet of concrete crashing onto a
highway below and hobbling a vital Bay Area interchange.

Overpass Collapse


Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

A fiery pre-dawn tanker truck accident caused the collapse of heavily
used freeway overpass near downtown Oakland early this morning.
The driver of the truck, which was carrying 8,600 gallons of
gasoline, was hospitalized with second-degree burns. No other injuries
were reported from the accident, which occurred at 3:42 a.m.But even as the
fire smoldered, transit officials said the accident could complicate
the lives of commuters for months.



“It will make for a long trip,” said Will Kempton, the director of Cal Trans, the state transportation agency.

The accident occurred in the very heart of an unruly cloverleaf known as
the MacArthur Maze, where several major arteries converge at the
approach to the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco with the
cities and suburbs that line the east side of San Francisco Bay. The
California Highway Patrol identified the driver of the tanker as James
Mosqueda, 51, from Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento. Officer Trent
Cross, a spokesman for the highway patrol, said Mr. Mosqueda had just
picked up the gasoline from a nearby refinery and was headed to a gas
station near the Oakland airport when the accident occurred. The
highway patrol believes that Mr. Mosqueda was heading south on an
interchange of Interstate 80 when he lost control in a curve, hit a
guardrail and flipped his truck on its side. The tanker exploded,
sending flames hundreds of feet into the air, according to witnesses,
and quickly buckled a three-lane section of Interstate 580 and caused it
to collapse onto Interstate 880 some thirty feet below.Michael
Brown, the commissioner of the highway patrol, said the driver was able
to escape the burning truck and apparently hailed a cab in order to go
to the hospital. Mr. Brown said there was “no indication of impairment
of the driver” by drugs or alcohol, but that some legal issues are
outstanding for both Mr. Mosqueda, and the truck’s owner, Sabek
Transportation, based in San Francisco.For some Bay Area
residents, the accident evoked memories of the 1989 Loma Prieta
earthquake, which caused the collapse of a mile-long, double-decker
section of I- 880, near the site of today’s accident. That collapse,
which occurred during the evening rush hour, resulted in 41 deaths and
more than 100 injuries, as cars on the lower level were crushed. Mayor
Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, who visited the site today, called the
collapse “a giant wake-up call to the region” about what might happen in
a major temblor. “It’s a matter of when not if,” Mr. Newsom said.


This time around, the results were not deadly on I-880, but no less
arresting to look at. Dozens of people converged near the collapse site
to gawk at the damage, and rubbernecking drivers on remaining roadways
slowed traffic. “I was on the road last night, so it’s kind of
scary for me,” Anita Myles, 49, an Oakland resident, said as peered at
the damage through a chain link fence. Another onlooker, James
Signore, a civil engineer from Oakland, said he had a professional
interest in the damage. “I have not seen this kind of wreckage before,”
said Mr. Signore, 43. “And I’m really curious how something this stout
could be taken down.”He was not the only one wondering how the
overpass, which dates to the 1950’s, had failed. At a noontime press
conference held at a toll plaza near the collapse, Mr. Kempton said the
heat from the fireball had likely melted the steel girders and bolts
that support the concrete roadway. “If you have that kind of heat,
you’re going to have this kind of reaction,” he said. “We’re not
surprised this happened.”With a Monday morning rush hour looming,
officials said they were trying to assess the damage as fast as
possible. Even with fewer cars on the road on a sunny weekend afternoon,
traffic was slow coming off the Bay Bridge into the East Bay, a
situation that will no doubt intensify as the work week begins. On an
average day, the two spans that were destroyed this morning carry
160,000 vehicles, Mr. Kempton said. Bay Area Rapid Transit, the
train system connecting San Francisco and the East Bay, was not affected
by the accident. Additional trains were being added and existing trains
lengthened to accommodate more passengers. “We would encourage
people to stay away from maze,” Mr. Kempton said. “If experience tells
us anything, it will take a day or two to get this sorted out.”That
may be a very rosy assessment. Rebuilding the collapsed section of
I-880 took nearly a decade, though Mr. Kempton called that situation “a
much larger issue” involving neighborhood and environmental concerns.
Mr. Kempton said he had contacted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
office soon after the accident, and would seek federal highway funds
for repairs, something he estimated would cost tens of millions of
dollars.

“It’s not going to be cheap,” he said. He also pleaded for patience,
saying with this kind of complex highway system, “You’re not going to
have a picnic every day.”

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Editorial:

....this is where the conspiracy theorists say "But that's not the WTC!!!1!
Don't you know the difference between an overpass and the WTC!!??!!?"...then run away before having to explain the relevant differences.

Let's also keep in mind that the steel in this overpass was supporting it's intended load when it failed due to heat. The steel in the affected areas of the WTC were supporting more than their intended load given that some supports had been severed by the airplane that smashed through it.