Bid Adieu to Bridge Closures After Labor Day Weekend

To transbay travelers who endured lengthy closures of the eastbound Bay Bridge last fall and again this June, and now face a 77-hour blockade of the bridge’s lower deck over Labor Day weekend

Caltrans crews maintain a delicate balance between creation and destruction to keep traffic moving through downtown San Francisco during the reconstruction of the Bay Bridge West Approach.

Bridge closed to eastbound traffic, upper deck closed westbound, for thee days of essential construction

Once we get past Labor Day, we get to sail home.

To transbay travelers who endured lengthy closures of the eastbound Bay Bridge last fall and again this June, and now face a 77-hour blockade of the bridge’s lower deck over Labor Day weekend, the words of Caltrans Project Manager Ken Terpstra are as soothing as a gust of cool sea air on a broiling summer day.

The westbound, lower deck of the Bay Bridge will be closed from 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, through 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, to accommodate a critical phase of the retrofit-by-replacement of the Bay Bridge West Approach, a $429 million project scheduled for completion in 2009. The closure is designed to ensure public safety during the demolition of a 1,000-foot long section of the approach structure’s upper deck.

Though periodic late-night ramp and lane closures will continue for several months, the Labor Day weekend shutdown marks the final time the entire lower deck is scheduled for closure. Even the shift of eastbound traffic this fall onto a new temporary freeway structure beneath the westbound lanes will take place without significantly interrupting traffic flows.

With the Bay Bridge closed to eastbound traffic, ferries and BART will play a starring role in the three-day weekend’s transbay travel drama. Both the Alameda-Oakland Ferry and the Vallejo Baylink Ferry will put one additional vessel into operation, allowing for approximately hourly departures in each direction on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Sept. 2-4. Complete Labor Day weekend schedules for both the Alameda-Oakland Ferry and the Vallejo Baylink Ferry are available on the Web at 511.org.

In addition to the expanded ferry service, BART will provide all-night service to 14 stations Friday night into Saturday, Saturday night into Sunday, and Sunday night into Monday. BART will run regularly scheduled service to all its stations during normal operating hours. This includes operating on a Saturday schedule on Sept. 2 and a Sunday/Holiday schedule on Sept. 3 and Sept. 4. And, once an hour, AC Transit transbay buses and San Francisco Muni buses serving Treasure Island will be allowed to access a single eastbound lane on the Bay Bridge.

Though the upper deck of the Bay Bridge will remain open to westbound traffic coming into San Francisco throughout the weekend, travelers are advised to use public transit to travel between San Francisco and the East Bay, and between San Francisco and Solano County.

There’s no better way to cross the Bay than on a ferry, said Ernest Sanchez, general manager of the Alameda-Oakland Ferry, which serves Jack London Square in Oakland and the Main Street terminal in Alameda, as well as the San Francisco Ferry Building and Pier 41 near Fisherman’s Wharf. We’ll have 14 roundtrips a day, all weekend, with eastbound departures as early as 7:30 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m., and westbound runs starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 10:30 p.m.

The Vallejo BayLink Ferry also will operate 14 daily round-trips throughout the Labor Day weekend between the Vallejo Ferry Terminal and the San Francisco Ferry Building, with three of the trips including a stop at Pier 41. The travel time between San Francisco and Vallejo on the ferry is one hour each way, noted Martin Robbins, general manager of the Vallejo Baylink Ferry.

The Baylink Bus Route #200 will be affected by the eastbound bridge closure, added Robbins, and will have to use Highways 101 and 37 to return to Vallejo. So passengers using Route #200 buses should plan on the trip taking longer than normal.

For those who must drive, alternatives to the Bay Bridge include U.S. 101 south to the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, or U.S. 101 north across the Golden Gate Bridge to Interstate 580 and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Bay Area transportation officials warn the Bay Bridge closure could prompt traffic troubles on other spans.

The Bay Bridge closure may result in significantly increased northbound traffic across the Golden Gate Bridge, explains Mary Currie, public affairs director for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. If this occurs, motorists should also expect southbound delays across the Golden Gate, as heavy traffic each way may result in three traffic lanes for each direction. Typically on Labor Day weekends, the bridge is configured with four southbound lanes and two northbound lanes.