# Bay Bridge Closure - Best way to get from Sacramento to SFO and back again? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502 "2009-10-28T20:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/1 "2009-10-28T20:06:30Z")
My wife is flying out of San Francisco Airport late this evening and I need to get her there from Sacramento. Unfortunately it appears that the Bay Bridge has picked up the bad habit of raining 5000 pound steel bits onto morning commuters, and is therefore closed for the day. Given the craziness I am reading about regarding BART and the San Mateo-Hayward and Richmond-San Rafael bridges I am pondering the best way to do this. Right now I think I’ll drive her to Richmond BART and she’ll take the train all the way to the airport. For those more familiar with the area - is there a faster, more reliable way, or is this my best bet? ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/2 "2009-10-28T20:15:17Z")
If you take the San Mateo bridge you’ll be going opposite the commute in the evening with the added bonus that you’ll be able to ride in the car pool lane if you go between 3PM and (I think) 7PM. You shouldn’t have that much of a problem. Listen to the KCBS newsradio for anything earth shattering (680AM - we can usually pick it up pretty much as far north as Sacramento.) They have traffic updates every 10 minutes. From what I understand the BART is running at maximum sardine capacity even with the full number of train cars. Someone traveling with luggage will not be comfortable or regarded kindly. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/3 "2009-10-28T20:23:57Z")
I’d recommend the San Mateo Bridge even if the Bay Bridge wasn’t out. Go 580-205-5 through Tracy and Stockton to avoid the tolls on the Benicia or Carquinez bridges. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/4 "2009-10-28T20:31:04Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I’d recommend the San Mateo Bridge even if the Bay Bridge wasn’t out. Go 580-205-5 through Tracy and Stockton to avoid the tolls on the Benicia or Carquinez bridges. A consensus of two so far - I don’t care too much about avoiding tolls. I’d much rather avoid traffic. Your route appears to steer me clear of the interchange closest to the nightmare, so perhaps it is for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/5 "2009-10-28T20:35:31Z")
I’m in the north bay, and I agree that **garygnu** ’s got the best route for you, going over san mateo bridge. Going over richmond-san rafael shouldn’t be too bad in the non-commute direction but I think that way is longer and then you have to drive thru the city on 19th, which is a pain any time of day. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/6 "2009-10-28T21:15:11Z")
This is the section of bridge that’s being replaced, right? I find it interesting that the news story didn;t mention that. How long will it take before the new bridge is ready? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/7 "2009-10-28T21:35:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > This is the section of bridge that’s being replaced, right? I find it interesting that the news story didn;t mention that. How long will it take before the new bridge is ready? The repair was finished a while back. It just failed again. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/8 "2009-10-28T21:37:25Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The repair was finished a while back. It just failed again. I don’t mean the repair. Aren’t they building a completely-new bridge next to this one? ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/9 "2009-10-28T21:37:30Z")
My understanding is that when they were doing their work over the Labor Day weekend they discovered a crack in the original bridge that needed repairs. They quickly repaired it. The bit that broke today was in fact the repair that they did then. I guess they need to learn to do it right, not fast? ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bay-bridge-closure-best-way-to-get-from-sacramento-to-sfo-and-back-again/515502/10 "2009-10-28T21:52:26Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > This is the section of bridge that’s being replaced, right? I find it interesting that the news story didn;t mention that. How long will it take before the new bridge is ready? At least another 3 years (2012 I believe). The section they replaced over Labor Day was a completely different (uncovered) section. They happened to make this repair because they did inspections while the bridge was closed at that time.