The big thing happening this weekend is the Super Bowl. Although the 49ers are playing the Chiefs in Miami, there will be a lot of activity around the Bay Area related to the game. This weekend also features a Lunar New Year festival and some popular footraces.
In San Francisco, Muni has announced a plan to deal with any traffic and transit disruptions resulting from Sunday’s game. In San Jose, the traffic headaches caused by Sunday’s popular “408K Race to the Row” should be confined to the morning hours. Also on tap for this weekend is Redwood City's Lunar New Year festival while drivers in parts of San Leandro and San Francisco may be affected by some road closures.
SOUTH BAY:
Sun, Feb 2 at 8am: San Jose: The “
408K Race to the Row” is an 8K footrace from the corner of Autumn Street and West Santa Clara Avenue in front of the SAP Center to Santana Row. Last year about 6,000 people walked or ran in it.
- Pro tip: Public transit via the VTA is the best way to get to the starting line, but if you’re going to drive, some parking lot information (including directions that take into account the road closures) is here (scroll down).
- Areas and roadways affected: This is a 5-mile race that goes westbound from the SAP Center through the historic Alameda business district, around the Rose Garden, under I-880, and down Stevens Creek Blvd to finish at Santana Row, so MANY roads will be closed. The vast majority of the closures will be wrapped up by 9:45-to-10am.
EAST BAY:
Fri, Jan 31; Sat, Feb 1; Sun, Feb 2; from 11:30pm-6am each night: The northbound
and southbound
I-880 ramps in San Leandro to southbound I-238 will be closed for overnight Caltrans repair work. Southbound I-238 is, of course, the little 2-mile-long freeway that connects I-880 [The Nimitz Freeway> in San Leandro with the I-580 freeway in Castro Valley.
- Pro tip: Even though this is overnight work, it affects both directions of the Nimitz (I-880), at least for drivers wanting to head east to Castro Valley.
- Detour directions
- From Northbound I-880: Take the Hesperian Blvd off-ramp, turn right onto Hesperian Blvd. Stay on it for about 1,500 feet, then, at College Street, turn left onto the on-ramp for Southbound I-238 (Taco Bell will be on your left as you head up the ramp).
- From Southbound I-880: Take the Lewelling Blvd off-ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, turn left onto eastbound Lewelling Blvd. After you cross under the freeway, make a left onto northbound Hesperian Blvd. Stay on it for about 1,500 feet, then, at College Street, turn left onto the on-ramp for Southbound I-238 (Taco Bell will be on your left as you head up the ramp).
PENINSULA:
Sat, Feb 1 from 11am-4pm: Redwood City’s Courthouse Square is the site for the annual
Lunar New Year celebration. This free event features lion dancers, martial artists, taiko drummers, and other performances in celebration of the Year of the Rat. There’s also free admission to the San Mateo County History Museum.
- Pro tip: From Caltrain’s Redwood City station, it’s a 5-minute walk to Courthouse Square; or you can hop on one of the SamTrans bus lines serving the area (296, 398, ECR). A downtown parking guide is here.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Sun, Feb 2 at 8am: The annual Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon will take place in Golden Gate Park.
The half marathon and two shorter races start at John F. Kennedy Drive east of Stow Lake Drive. The half marathon will take runners out around the Panhandle, back through the length of the Park, down the Great Highway to Sloat Blvd, and then back up into the Park again before finishing on Bernice Rodgers Way, next to Martin Luther King Jr Drive.
- Areas and roadways affected: The Great Highway between Fulton Street and Skyline Blvd will be closed from 8am to noon and several streets in the Panhandle (including portions of Oak and Fell) will be closed until as late as 10am.
Sun, Feb 2 at 3:30pm (Pacific Time): Super Bowl Sunday: The Niners play the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in Super Bowl LIV. The game will likely wrap up sometime between 6:45 and 7:30pm. In order to minimize potential service disruptions related to the Super Bowl, Muni has announced it will turn the F Market and Wharves streetcar lines into buses all day. Several buses will also be rerouted to avoid street closures in the Mission district starting around 5pm. Buses may also be used as replacements for portions of the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason cable cars
Mission Street, from Cesar Chaves to 21st Street, and 24th Street, between Bartlett Street and Potrero Avenue, will also get shut down down from 5pm until crowds have cleared.
- Pro tip: This would be as good a time as any to follow Muni’s Twitter account or the accounts of other major transit agencies such as BART Alerts. And of course, as long as we’re talking breaking news, yours truly, KCBS’s Major TimeSaver would be remiss not to put in a plug for his employer and strongly suggest you tune your radio to 740AM/106.9FM or follow our traffic reporters on Twitter.
