Results tagged “bay_bridge_closure”

ABC 7 has this report about Halloween in SF, sans bridge traffic, and it turns out business was still strong at places like Rouge on Polk (which has $500 bottle service at the booths!) and Teatro ZinZanni, which both depend heavily on their East Bay following. The turnout in the Castro -- while still festively large with many gays doing their one night of drag for the year -- was not as huge and unruly as in previous years (one reveler in the video notes the lack of "riff-raff"), and there were plenty of cops on hand telling everyone to stay on the sidewalks.

Due to the Bay Bridge being closed over the weekend, BART will run on a 24-hour schedule for Friday and Saturday. According to BART.gov:

With the Bay Bridge out of commission "indefinitely," doesn't that mean there'll be far fewer East Bay teenagers coming to the city for Halloween and therefore fewer events of the stabbing/shooting variety? After watching the (somewhat lackluster) Halloween episode of Trauma the other night, in which the Castro is talked up as the biggest Halloween party destination in the world, we feel like maybe it's time for some impromptu planning. Sure, there's always BART... but why can't we reclaim our big, crazy holiday party in the face of such transportation adversity? All we know about right now (apart from dozens of individual parties) is this Embarcadero FlashDance, but we'll be sure and let you know if we hear of anything else.

This couldn't come at a better time, and leave it to a snapped eastern span Bay Bridge cable to make us find this: Baynewser reported just two weeks back about a joint venture between McSweeney's and the Public Press to examine (in old school investigative journalist style) and report on the whole Bay Bridge fiasco. The project to build a new eastern span is 6 BILLION DOLLARS over budget and already ABOUT A DECADE LATE, and honestly, today's event should be enough to make everyone who uses this bridge majorly fucking furious. It wasn't even an earthquake and that wasn't even a suspension span!

After a snapped support cable struck three cars on the upper deck at around 5:45 p.m., the Bay Bridge was shut down in both directions this evening to check the structural integrity, according to ActionNewsSF.

CalTrans has apparently been taken by surprise by how difficult Bay Area commuters (and Safeway delivery trucks) are finding it to navigate that new S-curve on the Bay Bridge. Following on that unfortunate grocery spillage last week, and following on 20 total accidents since the S-curve was added on Labor Day, they're committing to putting up big new signs that emphasize the slowing from 50 m.p.h. to 40 m.p.h. We ourselves have driven over it several times and had no trouble, but certainly no one wants to be driving defensively while going 50 m.p.h. around a curve. So for god's sake people, slow down! Oakand's not going anywhere!

UPDATE: Well, that was a nice surprise. The bridge opened at 7 a.m. this morning. It's been inspected and is now safer than when it closed.

For those of you killing time waiting to see if the Bay Bridge reopens on schedule, why not spend ten minutes watching this charming film, "The March of Progress," about the engineering marvel of the Key Route trains that once traveled back and forth on the lower deck of the bridge. The Key System served the East Bay from 1903 to 1960, and provided transbay service from the time of the bridge's construction in 1936 until 1958 when the lower deck was opened up to eastbound auto traffic.

    

While the bridge has been shutdown over the Labor Day Weekend, they've been publishing images of their work in progress, using high-resolution photos. Much to our delight. Otherwise, one would never have spotted this totally awesome bit of graffiti, presumably scribbled on the on the side of the structure by Bay Bridge workers.

Starting Thursday at 8 p.m., the Bay Bridge will close down until Tuesday at 5 a.m. The cost? Well, according to KCBS, it's a lot "It's about $100,000 per day in cost for the additional BART service," John Goodwin of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Toll Authority tells KCBS. Also, the Bay Bridge will lose somewhere around $1.8 million in toll revenues, which will be slightly offset by increases on the other bridges. Is it worth it? Yes. What with SFist headquarters located next to the bridge, it will provide your editor with a few hours more of much-needed beauty rest. Also yes, the Seismic Safety Project will bring the structure up to earthquake safety standards. Read more about the closure here.