November 11, 2003
"Traffic is moving at 1 mph"
This morning's radio announcements surprised me. The traffic reporter, hovering somewhere north of Oakland and somewhere south of Oregon, said that traffic on the approach to the Al Zampa would lose a road-race to a snail. His claims were not exaggerated: turns out that Caltrans, in their haste to open the bridge, did not completely pave the approaches, causing a four-mile jam that delayed traffic for several hours.
Caltrans kept at least two lanes open as long as possible. At one point this morning, one lane of traffic flowed to the old bridge while a second lane directed vehicles to the new span.
But to complete the final wedge of pavement leading to the new span, crews had to shut down the lane to the 1927 bridge. They needed the space for equipment and to apply the asphalt material, Ney said.
The one-lane restriction was supposed to end by 8 a.m. at the latest. Caltrans also had counted on lighter Veteran's Day holiday traffic.
But vehicles backed up for miles on Interstate 80 past Marine World while Vallejo streets turned into parking lots. Motorists missed meetings, funerals and airplanes.
The gridlock prevented the contractor's asphalt trucks from reaching the site, where crews waited to apply the pavement, allow it cool, paint the stripes and glue down reflector tabs.
