(Leica Geosystems: San Ramon, California) -- Leica Geosystems assisted the California Highway Patrol’s multidisciplinary accident investigation team (MAIT) at the recent collapse of a major San Francisco-area overpass. The CHP brought a Leica ScanStation 3-D laser scanner to map the scene, and Leica Geosystems dispatched an application engineer to help collect and process the accident-scene data.

The accident occurred in the early morning hours on April 29, when a tanker truck carrying more than 8,600 gallons of gasoline crashed on the “MacArthur maze,” an approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, igniting a 3,000°F fire and causing the I-580 overpass to collapse onto another interstate highway below.

The CHP was on the scene within minutes of the incident. Once it was safe, MAIT members set up the Leica ScanStation and collected high-accuracy data from the ground to the top of the destroyed overpass. Leica Geosystems’ application engineer assisted the CHP in documenting the scene.

Recording forensic evidence to map the complex 3-D-accident scene was further complicated by contractors demolishing the overpass as MAIT members were scanning the scene.

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