Caltrans Reopens Bay Bridge Earlier Than Expected
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Work has gone so smoothly on the Bay Bridge that the westbound direction of the bridge opened Sunday night, well ahead of Tuesday morning's expected opening, a Caltrans official said.
Crews started picking up cones at 7 p.m. Sunday, and the first cars started moving over the upper deck, or the westbound lanes, at 7:30 p.m., Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said during a Sunday evening press briefing.
The roadway originally was not expected to be open until 5 a.m. Tuesday.
The upper deck, or westbound direction into San Francisco, was closed Friday night so crews could realign the roadway, put down new asphalt and do other work.
While the road was closed, crews were also doing what Ney described as "housekeeping work," including painting, inspections and electrical work.
"It's like a face-lift is being done to the Bay Bridge while we have it closed," he said.
There were some concerns that if heavy rain moved into the area, the reopening would have been delayed, causing a nightmare of a commute into San Francisco on Tuesday morning.
A wet weather system was expected to arrive in the region late Sunday, but the skies were clear while crews worked on the structure over the weekend. While the road was closed, people using the Golden Gate Bridge to drive into San Francisco found weekend traffic heavier than usual.
Traffic over the Golden Gate from about 4 p.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. was a "slow crawl in both directions," said Golden Gate Bridge District spokeswoman Mary Currie.
Traffic was also heavy Sunday, Currie said.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.)
