In case you missed our post last week and don't watch local news, we'd like to alert you to the fact that the Golden Gate Bridge will be closed to car traffic this weekend in order that a new, moveable median barrier can be installed replacing those dicey orange sticks that never felt like a safe median divider. As the Mercury-News explains, there's also a big change in store for southbound drivers from Marin: Instead of merging from left to right like they've always done, they'll now be merging from right to left.
The work is set to take 52 hours, from midnight on Friday (as in 12 a.m. Saturday) to 4 a.m. Monday morning. During that time, Golden Gate Transit will still operate bus service, and bicycles and pedestrians will still be welcome on the bridge, but all car traffic will have to take the long way to and from the city, via the East Bay.
The moveable barrier has been a long time coming and will cost the district $30 million to install, $20 million of which comes from federal grants. And though there have not been any head-on collisions on the bridge in recent memory the last was in 2001 there have been 16 fatalities from head-on collisions since 1971.
Here's a nice video, posted earlier, showing what the new barrier will look like.
Officials warn that there may be some adjustment for motorists used to driving on the bridge, and six inches of lane will be lost in both directions to accommodate the new barrier.
