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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

May/June 2006

Project Update:
West Approach to Bay Bridge Enters Critical Phase

West Approach

The Split Is Coming: Beginning June 3, motorists on westbound Interstate 80 will face a brand new lane alignment as they come off the upper deck of the Bay Bridge, with the fourth lane from the left offering an especially tricky departure from the ordinary. Known to traffic engineers as the #4 lane, this and the neighboring #5 lane will both veer right and away from the mainline freeway toward the Fremont Street/Folsom Street offramp. And while the #5 lane will offer a straightforward exit-only route, the #4 lane will give drivers the unusual choice of either exiting at Fremont Street, or continuing west and rejoining the mainline freeway several hundred yards downstream. Motorists also will have to adjust to a new Fifth Street offramp, which is being relocated a half-mile down the road. For updates, stay tuned to www.baybridgeinfo.org.

Drivers Must Navigate Challenging New Course

It might not be as glamorous a project as the new East Span (see story), but the retrofit-by-replacement of the West Approach is every bit as essential to the earthquake safety of the 70-year-old San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Work crews are removing and replacing the West Approach even as more than 260,000 vehicles a day traverse the mile-long elevated structure through downtown San Francisco. The complex and delicate operation is entering a critical new phase that, as of June 3, will involve a temporary and somewhat unusual lane reconfiguration for motorists coming off the upper deck of the bridge into San Francisco.

Officials also are warning drivers to brace themselves for major traffic disruptions during the weekends of June 2–5 and June 9–12 due to the demolition of a key segment of the existing structure. Caltrans is planning to shut the eastbound approach and the lower deck of the Bay Bridge overnight on both weekends, while also detouring westbound traffic onto city streets for a stretch. In addition, Caltrans is planning to close San Francisco’s First Street and Essex Street on-ramps to the bridge — as well as the bus on-ramp — throughout these weekends.

To help offset the inconvenience to transbay travelers, BART will provide 24-hour service across the Bay the first two weekends in June.

MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority is playing a central role in financing and overseeing the $429 million project, which is now in its fourth year and scheduled for completion in mid-2009.

In addition to the ongoing West Approach work, another project to resurface the pavement on both the upper and lower decks of the West Span of the bridge proper will require various lanes to be closed intermittently beginning in May and extending through late 2006.
— John Goodwin

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