Local News

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― It you planned on driving over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge this weekend, it's too late.

As planned, the bridge was shut down to traffic at 8 p.m. Thursday so that crews can do seismic retrofit work on the span.

The span is scheduled to reopen to traffic again by 5 a.m. Tuesday.

As part of the Labor Day weekend project, Caltrans officials said a 300-foot-long double-deck section of the east span will be cut out and moved out of the way.

When that work is done, a new double-deck section will be moved into place to connect the bridge with a short detour.

This weekend's bridge closure is part of an overall replacement of the eastern span of the bridge, scheduled to be completed in 2013.

Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said that when this weekend's work is completed, traffic will flow on a half-mile-long replica of the bridge connecting the new eastern span to the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel.

The replacement will allow crews to demolish a portion of the original bridge and build a new, permanent connector from the tunnel to the new eastern span, he said.

Ney said motorists will have to use the half-mile-long detour for three or four years while the old approach to the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel is demolished.

This weekend's work comes after previous closures on Labor Day weekends in 2006 and 2007.

Caltrans and transit agencies throughout the region were working to accommodate the bridge's drivers, who usually number up to 200,000 on non-holiday weekends and fewer over Labor Day weekend, according to Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin.

Caltrans said it had re-striped highway lanes to control higher volumes of traffic this weekend. All other construction projects were temporarily put on hold, and extra California Highway Patrol units would be on hand to clear accidents quickly.

Caltrans officials added that message signs were being used to direct drivers through the detours, but emphasized that public transportation was the best way to get around the area this weekend.

BART was operating longer trains and offering 24-hour service during the closure.

However, BART spokesman Linton Johnson emphasized that only 14 stations would be open between midnight and 4 a.m. He advised riders to double-check the list of stations to make sure they can get home.

"There's always somebody that says 'BART didn't tell us,'" he said.

More information was available on BART's Web site, http://www.bart.gov, under the link titled "No bridge? No problem."

In the San Francisco area, the stations that were remaining open all night are: 24th Street/Mission, Embarcadero, Powell Street, Daly City and San Francisco International Airport.

In the East Bay, they are: Bay Fair, Downtown Berkeley, Coliseum/Oakland Airport, Concord, Dublin/Pleasanton, El Cerrito del Norte, MacArthur, Oakland City Center/12th Street and Walnut Creek.

Golden Gate Bridge officials have said that those hoping to detour through Marin County during the closure should note that the bridge already operates at capacity on weekends, and there may be significant delays.

Additional Golden Gate Ferry trips have been added between San Francisco and Sausalito, where the Sausalito Art Festival is taking place.

Ferry service was also being added between Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco, as well as from Vallejo, according to Goodwin.

There were currently no restrictions on boat traffic under the bridge, though the Coast Guard will be monitoring the situation, Goodwin said.

Information about detours and increased public transportation services is available at http://511.org/baybridge/default.asp.

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