Repairs made after fence falls, stops I-880 traffic near 23rd in Oakland

Repairs have been made to an area along I-880 in Oakland after 100 yards of fencing from the overpass at 23rd Avenue fell across the freeway, causing an accident and blocking lanes in both directions.

Repairs are in place Tuesday morning, and the overpass has reopened. 

The incident was reported at 6:34 p.m. on southbound Highway 880 at 23rd Avenue when a sedan, a pickup truck and a third vehicle crashed and then pulled over to the shoulder. In all, eight vehicles were involved the collisions related to the falling fencing.

Two people were transported to a hospital with minor injuries, and one of the cars caught fire, according to the CHP. The driver in the burning car was able to escape the vehicle

The 10-foot-tall stretch of cyclone fence on the south side of the overpass is gone after tearing away from its foundation and falling onto the freeway about 25 feet below.

In video shot by Sky Fox, you can see the mess of tangled metal as crews worked cut it up and clear the eight freeway lanes it fell onto. 

Initial reports indicated that chain link fencing and some other unidentified debris fell from the 23rd Avenue overpass. One report even claimed that the overpass had collapsed, though video shot by Sky Fox proved that was not the case.

Video posted to social media showed the car fire on the freeway. 

The overpass itself has also been shut down, according to the CHP.

A Sig-alert was issued for both directions of the highway at 6:44 p.m. All southbound lanes had reopened as of 7:45 p.m., and one northbound lane reopened shortly after that.

CHP told KTVU this happened entirely without warning. They're not sure what to make of the fence failure. 

According to the CHP, traffic was backed up all the way to the 980.

Commuters were advised to use Interstate Highway 580 as an alternate route during the closure, officers said.

Shortly after 9 p.m., CHP announced that three left northbound lanes had reopened to traffic. The final lane reopened at about 9:30 p.m.

Commercial trucks, which are not typically permitted on that stretch of highway, were temporarily allowed to use the detour in light of congestion on Highway 880, but were required to switch back to 880 at around the same time.

Caltrans engineers remained on the scene into the evening investigating what could have caused the fence collapse.