University of California Transportation Center

The Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989, had a disastrous impact on surface transportation in the Bay Area. The most tragic effect of the failures in the transportation system was the loss of life in the collapse of the Cypress structure on Interstate 880 in Oakland and of the section of the Bay Bridge. Less dramatic, but disrupting the daily routines of thousands of commuters, were the traffic delays and congestion that occurred in the month that the Bay Bridge and Highway 17 (between Santa Cruz and the South Bay area) were closed for repairs.