Politics & Government

Update: New Bay Bridge to Open Sometime Monday Night

Construction during the five-day closure went as planned, and the bridge will be open to traffic on time.

Updated 5:30 p.m. Monday
—By Bay City News Service


According to news reports the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge will open Monday night at an undisclosed time.

Caltrans reportedly made that announcement Monday at a private ceremony at the bridge. The bridge was scheduled to open to traffic by 5 a.m. Tuesday, a bridge spokesman had said on Sunday.

"We haven't encountered any problems beyond the occasional slowdown that you'd expect with any construction project," spokesman Andrew Gordon said of work taking place since the bridge closed Wednesday night.

Crews have been paving the roadway on east and westbound portions of the new 2.2-mile span, installing barriers, power-washing the Treasure Island tunnels, polishing lights, and demolishing part of the old approach to the eastern span from Oakland, Gordon said.

On Sunday, crews were paving an area around the toll plaza and painting lane stripes on both directions of the new portion of the bridge, Gordon said. 

Elected officials and local luminaries attended a private ceremonial "chain-cutting" near the toll plaza on Monday afternoon, though Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin was tight-lipped about naming attendees. "The list is very fluid," Goodwin said. "There will be a special guest, but I'm not naming any names."

When the original bridge opened in 1936, dignitaries included Pageant Queens Miss Berkeley and Miss Oakland.

BART ridership swelled to its second-highest Saturday ever as the agency increased weekend trains between San Francisco and the East Bay to accommodate the Bay Bridge closure. BART registered an estimated 278,858 trips on the system on Saturday.

 The most current information on the opening of the Bay Bridge is available online at www.baybridgeinfo.org.


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