Your Commute: The Bay Bridge Is Back!

Was it just us, or did you also think, as soon as the Bay Bridge closed, that the only things you wanted to do over Labor Day Weekend were on the other side of the bay? Well, all those days are now nothing but a hazy memory, with the bridge reopening a full 11 hours earlier than planned (at around 6 p.m. last night) and traffic flowing relatively normally (i.e., jammed, but no more so than usual) this morning.

That said, apparently some commuters are freaking out about the expanded FasTrak lanes, putting their vehicles in reverse into moving traffic and the like. (We must confess, as a FasTrak user ourselves, we did have an unseemly chortle last week pre-closure, as we passed a person who'd tried to jump the line in the FasTrak lane who then no one would let into the paying-toll lanes -- but it was wrong of us to do so.) Caltrans says if you end up in a FasTrak lane by accident, just go through. You'll get a violation ticket, but if you subsequently sign up for a FasTrak, they'll waive the fee. They say they expect things to be smoother in a week (but we don't know if the non-FasTrak amnesty signup program will continue.)

The company that got the job done so fast? The same company that put back together the Macarthur Maze a month ahead of schedule too. C.C. Myers Inc. rules.

(Side note: Also -- apparently people have sex in BART stations all the time, but not this weekend.)

Picture of the Eastern Span repairs from the Caltrans Bay Bridge Info website.