Do you scratch your head and wonder how they schedule routine highway and bridge repairs?  I assumed that it would be a pro-active process,  with planning and timing designed to work around any peak travel times.  Clearly any major repairs are going to involve disruption, but I would think that the powers that be would want to minimize the amount of disruption caused to drivers.

San Francisco-Bay Bridge will be closed over Labor Day Weekend

In most cases, this means that repairs are going to happen over a weekend, when the disruption to commuters is minimized.  Okay, that makes sense.

But why, I am asking myself, would anyone schedule repairs to the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge over Labor Day Weekend?

The repairs are necessary bring the bridge into compliance with current earthquake standards.  It’s necessary and important, of course, but why close the bridge over Labor Day weekend?

Sure, there won’t be people commuting into the city.  But this is one of the chief driving holiday weekends, and these repairs mean that the Bay Bridge will be closed down over Labor Day Weekend.  Offering up alternatives like “allow extra time for travel” and “use the other bridges” (Golden Gate Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and the Dumbarton Bridge) just don’t seem like they’re going to be terribly helpful or practical.

If you’re going to be traveling in the Bay Area, you’ll want to keep up-to-date with information provided by the Bay Bridge Public Information Office.  And I’d start making other plans straight away.

I’m thinking that lots of car trips are going to be cancelled or changed.

Photo credit: yanec @flickr

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