Caltrans will likely make a decision later today on whether a large commuter artery in Sunnyvale will have to be shut for days, following a tailer-truck accident this morning that damaged the Mathilda Avenue overpass at Highway 101 and sent chucks of concrete smashing down onto three cars, authorities said.
A truck carrying a backhoe that was six inches taller than the 15-foot overpass at the Mathilda overpass knocked out large chucks of concrete and possibly did other unknown structural damage at 8:20 a.m., said John Pilger. California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Brandie Dressel added that concrete rained down on three cars, and luckily no one was hurt.
The major thoroughfare that runs through Sunnyvale was shut down shortly after the accident.
Dressel said that it's also possible that only one lane - No. 4 - of Mathilda Avenue, as well as the northbound offramp to that street, will be shut down, maybe for up to a week, but engineers are still deciding.
In the meantime, there are detour signs posted, but Pilger urged longer distance commuters to use the Lawrence Expressway, or Fair Oaks Avenue or Wolfe Road exits off U.S. Highway 101 instead of Mathilda Avenue.
Pilger said you can't really see any damage from Mathilda Avenue. But if you stand on 101, you can see a series of buckled beams and chunks of knocked-out concrete.
---Lisa Fernandez
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