Beginning Friday night, people trying to get across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Interstate Highway 80 should expect significant delays.

California Department of Transportation crews will be closing lanes for the second in a series of three major operations involving the demolition and rebuilding of a section of the west approach to the bridge.

Traffic will be re-routed to a new lane alignment and an eastbound bridge closure will affect traffic in both directions, according to Caltrans officials.

The good news is that Bay Area Rapid Transit will be providing 24-hour service during weekend bridge closures.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/9295601/detail.html

To me, this is amazing--Caltrans is completely reconstructing the San Francisco approach to the Bay Bridge while it is still in operation. Their outreach effort also seems significant--lots of warnings on the lighted message signs, and even computer-animated ads in nearby movie theaters (pre-movie) explaining how traffic will be different after the shift.

I welcome the shutdown, because of the increased BART service (Caltrans pays the additional costs of the few late trains that will run and keeping a limited number of stations open). Folks at BART have suggested these runs will serve as test runs for thinking about (someday) turning BART into some level of 24-hr service.

-Hayden

Last time it happened there weren't any major problems and BART ran overnight.

Last time it happened there weren't any major problems and BART ran overnight.

Yes, and if there are any problems, my guess would be in the next Monday's commute, as drivers adjust to the new lane markings.

I did happen to be (driving) in downtown SF on a weekend afternoon when two of the ramps onto the EB Bay Bridge were closed, I think maybe a year or so ago (before the BART overnight closure, which was different). There was a huge backup in SOMA. Finally, I took the San Mateo bridge back to the East Bay.

-Hayden

I read the Chronicle article -- this looks like a very significant alteration. I expect some nasty commutes next week. Avoid the Bay Bridge if possible. Give yourself lots of extra time if you can't.