Whether you’re an East Bay bride planning an early September wedding in San Francisco, a Peninsula football fan awaiting the Tennessee Vols’ appearance at UC Berkeley, or anyone else looking to travel across the bay this Labor Day weekend, here’s some simple advice: take BART — or ride a ferry.
By John Goodwin
Published: May, 2007
The Bay Bridge will be closed to traffic in both directions over the three-day Labor Weekend to perform a crucial step in the replacement of the bridge’s East Span. Caltrans crews will demolish some 350 feet of the original upper deck roadway just east of the Yerba Buena Island tunnel, and install a new structure built to contemporary seismic safety standards. The new section — and a moveable support system — is now under construction immediately to the south of the existing roadway. After debris from the upper deck demolition is hauled away, the new section will be rolled into place along special tracks to be placed temporarily across the lower deck.
This intricate operation may spur many Bay Area residents to get an early start on out-of-town excursions over the long holiday weekend. Demolition and installation work will take three to four days, so the Bay Bridge could be closed to traffic in both directions sometime on Friday, Aug. 31, and not reopen until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Caltrans and its contractors will fine-tune their plans over the next few months to determine precisely how long the span will need be closed.
If it looks like we’re going to need extra time, we’re going to move the closure back into Friday rather than affect the Tuesday morning commute,’’ said Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney.
The work is similar in many ways to the demolition of a roughly 1,000-foot length of the Bay Bridge West Approach in San Francisco that was performed over Labor Day weekend in 2006 and forced a three-day closure of the eastbound (lower deck) lanes of the Bay Bridge. The key difference between this year and last is that installation of the new roadway segment will require closure of the span in both directions.
We’ll use our experience from last year’s closure to perform this essential seismic safety work efficiently and with minimal inconvenience to the public, added Ney.
Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and other transportation agencies will coordinate efforts to ensure mobility options for transbay travelers and will make a huge effort to keep the public informed about the bridge closure in the months ahead. BART will run all-night service to select stations over Labor Day weekend. Extra vessels will be deployed to expand ferry service on select routes, and San Francisco Muni is planning route and scheduling changes to accommodate the bridge closure. AC Transit’s transbay bus service will not be available. Travelers who must drive between San Francisco and the East Bay are advised to use the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, or the Richmond-San Rafael and Golden Gate bridges.
The public information campaign will include signs, banners, paid ads and public service announcements, posters and fact sheets designed to alert motorists, transit riders and vistiors from outside the Bay Area about the bridge closure. As Labor Day weekend approaches, MTC’s 511 phone service and 511.org Web site will be the official source for information on trip planning and traffic conditions. Construction updates also will be posted on baybridgeinfo.org
When the bridge reopens to traffic early in the morning of Tuesday, Sept.4, westbound motorists approaching the Yerba Buena Island tunnel likely will not notice any visible difference in the roadway. But they will be driving on a seismically upgraded section that eventually will connect the tunnel with the new East Span.
