Golden Gate Bridge Closing
Golden Gate Bridge Closing, For the first time in its history, San Francisco’s most iconic landmark went on a weekend hiatus.
The Golden Gate Bridge was closed to traffic over the weekend as crews installed a movable median barrier designed to prevent head-on collisions. But despite the closure, traffic flowed as usual in the Bay Area on Saturday.
The bridge closed to traffic at a minute after midnight Saturday and is scheduled to remain shut down until 4 a.m. Monday.
The $30 million barrier will replace the yellow plastic pylons that bridge workers used to place in the middle of the bridge by hand to separate traffic flowing in opposite directions — tiny barriers that could make driving in the inner lanes of the bridge a hair-raising experience.
The new barrier is made of steel-encased concrete segments, measuring a foot wide, 32 inches tall and nearly 12,000 feet long. On Saturday, crews worked to install 3,500 separate pieces of the barrier in what Ewa Bauer, the bridge’s engineering director, said was exacting, highly choreographed work.
“There have to be very precise measurements for it to work,” said Bauer. “Everything must work in concert.”
The individual pieces of the barrier are connected with large steel pins. Visually, such barriers look something like zippers, and they are often referred to as “road zippers.” Starting Monday, bridge crews will use new “zipper trucks” to lift, shove and place the concrete segments into position and reconfigure the lanes as needed, instead of placing pylons by hand.
Extra narrow
Built by Lindsay Transportation Systems, similar “road zippers” are in use on bridges such as the span to Coronado Island in San Diego. But a challenge of engineering the Golden Gate Bridge barrier was that the barrier had to be significantly narrower — just 1 foot wide instead of 1½ or 2 feet — since the bridge’s lanes are just 10 feet wide to begin with.
With the bridge closed, drivers heading between San Francisco and the North Bay must use the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and the Bay Bridge. But traffic on those bridges was not especially heavy Saturday, according to the Bay Area Toll Authority.
About 80,000 autos cross the Golden Gate each Saturday or Sunday — far fewer than typically travel over the Bay Bridge.
“The impact of the closure of the Golden Gate Bridge is not that significant,” said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the authority. “If the Bay Bridge was closed, things would be really bad.”
While the bridge is closed to private vehicles, Golden Gate Transit buses are operating on regular schedules across the bridge. But Golden Gate Bridge spokeswoman Priya Clemens said Saturday ridership was no higher than usual and buses ran on time, despite having to navigate a maze of construction activity.
It seems that fearing a weekend traffic mess, most North Bay commuters opted to stay home. Ferries across the bay were the only transit service that saw a significant uptick in passengers. Clemens said ferries to both Larkspur and Sausalito had about twice as many passengers as usual.
Over the weekend, the Golden Gate Ferry is running more boats to and from Larkspur, including a late-night service. Regular ferry service is operating to and from Sausalito. Tideline, a water taxi service, is also running a loop between Pier 1½ in San Francisco to Sausalito and Tiburon from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday.
Sidewalk open
The bridge’s east sidewalk is still open to pedestrians and cyclists. The parking lots on both ends, however, are closed through the duration of the construction.
On Saturday, Clemens said the construction was humming along on schedule, with crews about halfway through laying out the barriers by the afternoon. Bridge workers will also practice using the zipper trucks to move the new barrier into formation before it officially opens for business on Monday.
The Golden Gate Bridge was closed to traffic over the weekend as crews installed a movable median barrier designed to prevent head-on collisions. But despite the closure, traffic flowed as usual in the Bay Area on Saturday.
The bridge closed to traffic at a minute after midnight Saturday and is scheduled to remain shut down until 4 a.m. Monday.
The $30 million barrier will replace the yellow plastic pylons that bridge workers used to place in the middle of the bridge by hand to separate traffic flowing in opposite directions — tiny barriers that could make driving in the inner lanes of the bridge a hair-raising experience.
The new barrier is made of steel-encased concrete segments, measuring a foot wide, 32 inches tall and nearly 12,000 feet long. On Saturday, crews worked to install 3,500 separate pieces of the barrier in what Ewa Bauer, the bridge’s engineering director, said was exacting, highly choreographed work.
“There have to be very precise measurements for it to work,” said Bauer. “Everything must work in concert.”
The individual pieces of the barrier are connected with large steel pins. Visually, such barriers look something like zippers, and they are often referred to as “road zippers.” Starting Monday, bridge crews will use new “zipper trucks” to lift, shove and place the concrete segments into position and reconfigure the lanes as needed, instead of placing pylons by hand.
Extra narrow
Built by Lindsay Transportation Systems, similar “road zippers” are in use on bridges such as the span to Coronado Island in San Diego. But a challenge of engineering the Golden Gate Bridge barrier was that the barrier had to be significantly narrower — just 1 foot wide instead of 1½ or 2 feet — since the bridge’s lanes are just 10 feet wide to begin with.
With the bridge closed, drivers heading between San Francisco and the North Bay must use the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and the Bay Bridge. But traffic on those bridges was not especially heavy Saturday, according to the Bay Area Toll Authority.
About 80,000 autos cross the Golden Gate each Saturday or Sunday — far fewer than typically travel over the Bay Bridge.
“The impact of the closure of the Golden Gate Bridge is not that significant,” said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the authority. “If the Bay Bridge was closed, things would be really bad.”
While the bridge is closed to private vehicles, Golden Gate Transit buses are operating on regular schedules across the bridge. But Golden Gate Bridge spokeswoman Priya Clemens said Saturday ridership was no higher than usual and buses ran on time, despite having to navigate a maze of construction activity.
It seems that fearing a weekend traffic mess, most North Bay commuters opted to stay home. Ferries across the bay were the only transit service that saw a significant uptick in passengers. Clemens said ferries to both Larkspur and Sausalito had about twice as many passengers as usual.
Over the weekend, the Golden Gate Ferry is running more boats to and from Larkspur, including a late-night service. Regular ferry service is operating to and from Sausalito. Tideline, a water taxi service, is also running a loop between Pier 1½ in San Francisco to Sausalito and Tiburon from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday.
Sidewalk open
The bridge’s east sidewalk is still open to pedestrians and cyclists. The parking lots on both ends, however, are closed through the duration of the construction.
On Saturday, Clemens said the construction was humming along on schedule, with crews about halfway through laying out the barriers by the afternoon. Bridge workers will also practice using the zipper trucks to move the new barrier into formation before it officially opens for business on Monday.