Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Reopens

SAN RAFAEL, CA – All lanes are open on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge after concrete fell from the upper deck to the lower deck Thursday morning, California Highway Patrol officials said.

All lanes reopened at 8:17 p.m., according to the CHP. Crews made temporary repairs to the upper deck Thursday evening.

The falling concrete damaged a vehicle and created a traffic nightmare for North Bay and East Bay drivers.

The problem began around 10:30 a.m. when the CHP reported a piece of concrete struck and caused major damage to a white Mercedes and "possible structural damage to the bridge." No one was injured.

The CHP reported at 11:15 a.m. that large chunks of concrete the size of a football and golf ball were dropping to the lower deck, and a Sig-alert was issued after all lanes of eastbound Interstate Highway 580 on the bridge were closed because of the falling debris.

Westbound lanes of Highway 580 remained open until the entire bridge was shut down at 11:51 a.m. and the CHP escorted vehicles off the bridge.

The CHP reported vehicles were making 3-point turns and backing up to drive the wrong way off the bridge to escape the closure and some motorists were beginning to panic.

The closure affected traffic on approaches to the bridge from U.S. Highway 101 in San Rafael and on state Highway 37, an alternate route between the East and North Bay.

Traffic in San Francisco was also affected, according to the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.

The No. 1 lane in both directions of Highway 580 reopened at 3:05 p.m. as Caltrans engineers began making repairs, but at 3:47 p.m. concrete was reported falling again, the CHP said.

The entire bridge was closed again around 4 p.m.

Caltrans officials said an emergency order has been issued to get a crew in quickly to make more permanent repairs this weekend. Repairs Thursday evening involved installing large metal plates onto the upper deck.

Caltrans spokesman Vince Jacala said that he was unsure whether any lanes will be closed this weekend as crews make repairs. He said the bridge was last inspected in August.

Details of the more permanent repairs will be released Friday and possibly into the weekend.

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--Images via CHP/Bay City News contributed to this post