EXCLUSIVE: New Video Shows Dramatic Maze Collapse

The KTVU Channel 2 News has obtained what may be the only complete video of the recent collapse of the MacArthur Maze. The highway patrol says the tape is a significant piece of evidence in the ongoing investigation of the catastrophic failure of one of the busiest freeway interchanges in the nation.

To some Bay Area commuters, the MacArthur Maze disaster probably seems like a distant memory. Two months have passed since the maze collapsed; it's been more than a month since traffic started moving again.

The video obtained by the KTVU Channel 2 News comes from a security camera from a nearby East Bay Municipal Utility District sewage treatment plant.

The beginning of the video shows simple black and white security footage of traffic going through the maze just before the accident. Infrequent headlights are visible at the top of the screen as late-night traffic passed through the area.

The video is silent.

It was 3:41 a.m. on the morning of April 29th when a tanker truck driver with a checkered past was hauling more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline through the MacArthur Maze in West Oakland lost control of his vehicle.

The alert security guard at the east bay mud plant turns the camera to the sudden explosion.

She changes the camera settings and points it to the heart of the inferno. At the right side of the screen, the driver of the tanker can be seen fleeing the accident and barely escaping with his life.

James Mosqueda, the 51-year-old driver who remains under investigation, was able to run from the blazing tanker, finally hailing a taxi that took him to the hospital.

The fire reached temperatures high enough to soften the steel girders, melt the bolts and burn for hours.

Gradually the road bed began to bend. Then, the freeway connecting the Bay Bridge and Interstate 580 simply collapses.

The video captures the dramatic moment when the structure gave way, collapsing with a plume of sparks and smoke. Later more of the freeway gives way under the searing heat.

Emergency fire crews arrived on the scene within 15 minutes.

Top highway patrol investigators told KTVU they are using the video in their investigation of what actually happened and who is at fault. They say it provides the first complete timeline of what happened, enabling investigators to sequence the chain of events.

KTVU also talked to a structural engineer who is conducting a separate investigation on behalf of the national science foundation. He hadn't seen the new tape, but told us he'll be studying this unique video frame by frame.