Friday morning's commute commenced with all lanes open on both decks of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, a day after falling concrete forced intermittent closures. The bridge was fully opened Thursday evening after Caltrans engineers determined the hazard had abated.
Caltrans said it would issue an emergency order to bring in a contractor "to make permanenent repairs this weekend."
Widespread traffic impacts were felt across the Bay Area during the Thursday afternoon commute. Gridlock in San Francisco was so severe that the SFMTA temporarily stopped all service on the California Street cable car line.
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Earlier coverage:
The California Highway Patrol is re-opening one lane in each direction on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, after chunks of falling concrete fell on the eastbound lower deck and closed the critical commuter span for several hours Thursday.
Full re-opening of the bridge is not expected until 6 p.m. Thursday, and will likely continue to cause major impacts on the evening commute.
CalTrans is currently investigating the reason for the falling concrete, which was reported by a driver crossing the span after one of the chunks struck their car. The closure also impacted both westbound and eastbound I-50, and closed the on-ramps to the freeway.
Listener Brittany N. shared this video with KCBS Radio of authorities trying to clear the lower deck of the bridge:
CHP Marin has posted images of the concrete chunks on their Facebook page.