San Francisco Bay Bridge Closes After Cable Failure

Traffic in the San Francisco Bay area was thrown into chaos Tuesday evening when a cable on the bridge failed, causing the bridge to be completely shut.

The steel cable failed at 5:32 p.m. local time, and fell onto three vehicles on the upper deck of the bridge. The break also resulted in a minor two car collision at the scene. The drivers of the vehicles are said to be shaken but not injured.

Officials said the parts that fell were part of the emergency repair that delayed the opening of the bridge following repairs over the Labor Day weekend.

At the time of writing, two west bound lanes were open on the bridge. Twitter users reported massive delays as those caught in the afternoon commute were trapped in traffic.

Update: reports suggest that most, if not all of the Bay Bridge may remain closed for up to 36 hours. BART is putting on extra trains for the morning commute to meet an expected surge in demand.