Traffic flowed without any incidents near the Dumbarton Bridge on Sunday, as the drivers still in the Bay Area for Labor Day weekend seemed to avoid the area, a Caltrans spokesman said Sunday.
The real test, however, figures to be Monday evening when commuters return from the three-day weekend.
“We’ve had nothing unusual with regards to the traffic.” Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said. “Obviously, as we get later in the day Monday, we’ll see what happens.”
Regardless, Caltrans already is regarding the weekend shutdown of the bridge a successful operation. Work crews replacing an expansion joint on the east side of the bridge as part of an earthquake retrofit should finish the project before the bridge reopens Tuesday without any problem, Ney said.
Just as important, he said, is that bridge traffic should flow better once it is reopened at 5 a.m. Tuesday.
“We were able to reconfigure the carpool lane,” Ney said. “Now, it will be open as FasTrak lane for all 24 hours.”
Workers also have replaced the crash cushions at the toll plaza and landscaped and pained the area, Ney said.
The western expansion joint was replaced during the Memorial Day weekend closure.
The 1.6-mile-long Dumbarton Bridge began operating in 1982 and is used by about 61,000 vehicles a day.
Rick Hurd covers public safety. Contact him at 925-945-4780 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH.
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