Part of freeway to reopen soon

It is still the Bay Area’s worst transportation disaster since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, but the damage to the maze of roads connecting several freeways near Oakland from a weekend truck explosion is not as bad as initially feared, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday.

The governor announced that a key segment of what is known as the MacArthur Maze will not need to be rebuilt. The segment, which connects I-80 to I-880, will be repaired and open to traffic within 10 days, he said.

“Progress at repairing the collapsed freeway connectors is moving at lightning speed,” Schwarzenegger said.

But it will still be months before traffic is back to normal in the Bay Area. An entire span of I-580 was destroyed in the fire Sunday and needs to be completely rebuilt. The Department of Transportation is soliciting bids for that project.

Transportation officials determined that the I-880 section could be repaired after tests of several concrete and steel samples revealed that part of the interchange, while badly damaged from the collapse of a piece of freeway above, remains structurally sound.

Caltrans estimates it will cost $8 million to repair it. The cost of repairing the entire MacArthur Maze is certain to be many times that. State officials said the project has qualified for federal emergency relief funding, which is expected to cover the full cost of the repair work.

But Caltrans Director Will Kempton warned that there are costs associated with the project that may not be covered.

Kempton said he has not yet determined whether the state will seek reimbursement from the South San Francisco trucking firm Sabek, whose driver was involved in the incident. The driver, James Mosqueda, had several drug-related convictions more than a decade ago, one resulting in a prison sentence.

Drugs and alcohol were not involved in the crash, according to law enforcement officials, and Mosqueda’s family said he hadn’t used drugs for years.

Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, announced that contractors will be given financial incentives to get the job done as fast as possible.

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evan.halper@latimes.com