For those of you who never did time in the Bay Area, we'll lay it straight out: when the Bay Bridge is closed, the normally bad traffic goes from indigestion to amoebic dysentery. And to demolish the old Western Approach to the hoary gray workhorse (and actually our favorite bridge anywhere (yes, we love you, too, Vincent Thomas, don't worry)), CalTrans has shut down the eastbound lower deck of the structure, causing traffic toward Oakland to either divert south on 101 to the San Mateo Bridge, or to cut through the City, head over the Golden Gate, up to San Rafael and over the Richmond Bridge.
Either way, it adds a good 20 to 40 miles to one's trip, depending on the destination. What's more, it soaks the other already-overloaded arteries with traffic. However, officials say that the public has responded rather well to the closing. Still, we know the public is helluv annoyed. The bridge re-opens at 5am Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, we wanna see 'em shut down the Altamont Pass permanently, cover the stretch of 580 with more windmills and watch the soulless office parks of Pleasanton staffed by miserable schmoes fall into the toilet and cause the awful housing tracts of Tracy to disintigrate blow away in the Central Valley wind. Our lackadaisical blogging ass will just take the 101 next time we drive up to see friends. The rest of you can go back to Salina, Kansas or wherever.
Traffic keeps flowing despite bridge closure [SFGate]
Related:
A Seven-Axle Civic? Bay Area Motorists Charged Big Rig Toll Rates [Internal]