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Bay Bridge Reopens Early!

February 19, 2012
Mother Nature gave the Bay Bridge a boost this holiday weekend, ensuring that skies stayed clear so that crews could wrap up a bypass operation ahead of schedule. The westbound direction -- closed since Friday evening -- opened at 7 pm today, some 34 hours ahead of schedule. Eastbound Bay Bridge traffic was not affected by the closure.

Post-closure, traffic shifted smoothly to a detour that takes cars bound for San Francisco on a new path slightly south of the old approach to the bridge. The detour makes room for construction crews to demolish sections of the existing roadway that are in the path of the yet-to-be-built eastbound touchdown of the new Bay Bridge East Span.

“One of the biggest challenges we have is that we're trying to build the new bridge in some cases in the exact same footprint as the original bridge,” said Caltrans spokesperson Bart Ney during a weekend press conference.

By implementing this detour, along with an eastbound detour that was installed last Memorial Day weekend, the entire new East Span will open to the public earlier than previously scheduled. The detours allow construction crews to work between the existing and new bridges to complete the new eastbound lanes, work which would not possible without the traffic realignment. Without the detours, eastbound traffic would have stayed on the original bridge for about six months after westbound traffic traveled on the new bridge.

The Bay Bridge's westbound upper deck closed Friday night for the detour work, which included realigning and repaving the approach from the toll plaza to the bridge, lane striping and the placement of a guide rail. While the bridge was closed, other work crews spent the weekend inspecting the bridge, doing paving work on Interstate 80 before the toll plaza and making electrical improvements at the toll plaza.

For more information about the eastbound detour, visit BayBridgeInfo.org/otd_detour.

Previously:

• Westbound Deck of Bay Bridge to Close During Presidents’ Day Weekend
  January 2012
• New Bay Bridge East Span Reaches High Point: Cable Pulling Begins This Week
  December 2011
• Greetings in a Big Way: Bridge Engineers Install Oversized Wreath on Bay Bridge Tunnel Portal
  December 2011
• Happy 75th Birthday, Bay Bridge!
  November 2011
• Bay Area Celebrates Completion of Bay Bridge East Span Decks
  October 2011
• Crews Closing Gap in Bay Bridge East Span Decks
  October 2011
• Crews Start Installation of Final East Span Deck Pieces
  September 2011
• Lights Illuminate Bay Bridge East Span Progress
  August 2011
• Video: Bay Bridge East Span Construction Update
  August 2011
• Catwalk Installation Complete on East Span
  August 2011
• World's Largest Cable Saddle Placed Atop Longest Self-Anchored Suspension Span
  May 2011
• Bay Bridge Eastbound Drivers: Prepare for Detour to Begin Memorial Day Weekend
  May 2011
• It's a Bird, It's a Plane...It's a Cement Truck?
  April 2011
• East Span Tower Construction Begins Final Phase With Capping of Legs
  April 2011
• East Span 4x4! Crews Lift Final Four Tower Leg Sections in Four Days
  March 2011
• East Span Now Towers Over Original Bridge
  February 2011
• Thanks to Detours, New Bay Bridge East Span to Open in 2013
  February 2011
• Second Set of Bay Bridge Tower Sections in Place
  November 2010
• Bay Bridge East Span Tower Reaches New Heights
  October 2010
• New Bay Bridge East Span Construction Goes Vertical
  July 29, 2010
• Photos: Historic Lift of Self-Anchored Suspension Tower Sections for the New Bay Bridge East Span
  July 2010
• Photos: Unloading First SAS Tower Sections
  July 2010
• First East Span Tower Sections Arrive in the Bay Area
  July 9, 2010
• First SAS Tower Sections Set Sail For Bay Area
  June 28, 2010
• Historic Lift of First Self-Anchored Suspension Span Section for New Bay Bridge
  February 2010
• More Bay Bridge photos