SF Bay Bridge closed Aug 28 to Sept 3

[J-mans_Dad]

FYI, the San Francisco Bay Bridge will be closed from August 28 to Sept 3 for the cutover to the new span

511 Traffic Alert
Bay Bridge Closure Info
Drive through animation

Mods: please delete this post after Sept 4

[paulj]

Didn't they intentionally keep the side walls high on the new Hoover dam bridge to reduce gawking? It was easier there, though, because the dam is at a lower level, while with the Bay bridge, the views are off on the horizon.

[msmith1199]

I haven't been on it yet, but my understanding is the side railings are lower. On the old bridge, the side walls were fairly high and there wasn't much of a view from a car other than the gray wall on the side of the bridge. I recall going over the Bay Bridge for the first time in my motorhome and the view was very distracting since I could now see everything. My understanding is now cars can get that same view on the new bridge and the CHP had put out an advisory about it asking people to drive and not look. I doubt there advisory will do much good. People will get used to it eventually.

[tad94564]

Traffic currently sucks badly if you have to cross the bay bridge - took 1.5hours to get from SFO to Berkeley, on a tuesday night, at 8pm. (8pm left SFO, 9:30pm got to Richmond).

Drivers are still getting used to the new bridge (lots of slow, gawking drivers on the bridge last night).

[paulj]

Driving the new span

http://www.mercurynews.com/traffic/ci_24007615/roadshow-testing-new-bay-bridge-convertible

almost as pretty as Vancouver's new Port Mann Bridge 🙂

[J-mans_Dad]

Looks like they're really hustlin' on the cutover. Repaved and re striping the toll plaza. Tollgates all painted white. Now onto the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel, Sandblast the face, washdown the interior and replace lights w high output LED's.

Little known fact: the Bay Bridge toll plaza area used to be the widest road (in a single direction)in the US at ~21 lanes.

[msmith1199]

They say the work is on time so far. Bridge to open Tuesday morning at 5am.

[paulj]

msmith1199 wrote:
...
This wasn't a repair, it's an entirely new bridge and it has taken 12 years to build. The original bridge (both parts) was built in 3 1/2 years back in the 30's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_span_replacement_of_the_San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland_Bay_Bridg...
Long description of this new bridge and the construction process.

Wrangling over design and costs that involved the governors office produced some delays. The choice of an innovative main span was another factor. The initial design was a 'freeway on stilts'. As it was the eastern viaduct part was completed by 2009. And the modern one is built to higher standards, especially in the earthquake resistance department (which is why a replaced was required in the first place).

[msmith1199]

md2lgyk wrote:
Over Labor Day weekend?? You've gotta be kidding me. Why can't they just wait until Sept 4?? Besides the insane traffic jams that will result, all the bridge workers will be drawing holiday pay. Probably at least double time. Guess Califoria's financial woes are over.

Labor day weekend was chosen on purpose because it is the lightest traffic time. Much more convenient to close the bridge over a long weekend versus in the middle of the work week.

[msmith1199]

fj12ryder wrote:
I was just reading about this bridge repair. A wonderful example of bureaucracy in action: this repair has been going on for over 20 years!! Amazing.

This wasn't a repair, it's an entirely new bridge and it has taken 12 years to build. The original bridge (both parts) was built in 3 1/2 years back in the 30's.

[tad94564]

Less than 12hrs to go; CHP/Caltrans says bridge is to be totally closed by 8pm, all approaches start closing at 7pm.

Can't wait for my commute down I80 from Pinole to downtown Oakland tomorrow AM.

[bucky]

This is why there are so many engineer jokes.

[J-mans_Dad]

as far as the bridge workers working on a holiday weekend, the whole operation is under a contract, so the builder has to absorb any additional overtime/holiday pay costs incurred, not the state.

Actually the contractor will be ecstatic to complete the job this weekend they probably already had planned to complete over a weekend so the labor cost was boiled in anyway. He stands to make something like $20 million for bringing the project in early. :E:E .

[tad94564]

elkhorn98 wrote:
The Bay Bridge is probably one of the busiest bridges in the country during normal work days. So labor day weekend is the best time to do it. And everything I have heard (and it's on the local news every night) is the issue was not the steel from China but the bolts made in the USA.

You missed the union placed billboards complaining about the fact the bridge was fabricated in China then; of course, they disappeared when the bolts failed.

Yes, the bolts that shattered was made in the good ol' USA, to Caltrans specs.. which was then found to be totally wrong, after installation.

[elkhorn98]

The Bay Bridge is probably one of the busiest bridges in the country during normal work days. So labor day weekend is the best time to do it. And everything I have heard (and it's on the local news every night) is the issue was not the steel from China but the bolts made in the USA.