SF-Bay Bridge closed

[nna]

if you are landing in oakland, and going to SF to catch a cruise--check with http://www.511.org for updates. bridge had a sudden break in a cable--this was a break in the repair done on labor day. there is no projected time right now for reopening.

 

BART is one alternative to and from the east bay.

 

just a heads up. hopefully, the engineers will figure something out soon.

also very fortunate is that no one was really hurt by the flying cable and the 5000 lb piece of steel that landed in the middle of rush hour traffic.

[mjesf]

Here is the link to what happened.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/28/BA621ABP3G.DTL&tsp=1

 

BART is running extra trains, but it is expected that they will be crowded.

 

This is also an example as to why one should arrive to the port a day early. Things like this can really screw up getting to the ship on time.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

I agree that you should always go at least a day before your cruise or even two days early if it is an international flight.

 

Specifically for the Bay area if the Bay bridge is closed:

 

You can take the San Mateo Bridge across the bay to San Mateo and take the 101 north to San Francisco.

 

Or the bridge farther south (Dumbarton?) that also crosses the bay, that connects with 101 north.

 

There is the Vallejo Ferry to San Francisco, and the San Rafael Bridge onto the 101 south across the Golden Gate bridge to San Francisco.

 

All of these alternatives take time and hopefully any ships leaving today or tommorow will note this.

[DiBob]

Hello,

 

I agree that you should always go at least a day before your cruise or even two days early if it is an international flight.

 

Specifically for the Bay area if the Bay bridge is closed:

 

You can take the San Mateo Bridge across the bay to San Mateo and take the 101 north to San Francisco.

 

Or the bridge farther south (Dumbarton?) that also crosses the bay, that connects with 101 north.

 

There is the Vallejo Ferry to San Francisco, and the San Rafael Bridge onto the 101 south across the Golden Gate bridge to San Francisco.

 

All of these alternatives take time and hopefully any ships leaving today or tommorow will note this.

They just announced the bridge is closed indefinately! (HLN News)

[Randy H]

The last departure was the Nowergan Sun on Oct 23, She returns on 11/3, so, so far no cruise passengers effected, and with luck they will have it fixed in a couple of days...

 

I regularly commute on the San Mateo bridge... luckily a reverse commute... the inbound traffic was backed up the entire length of the bridge... (its the 25th longest bridge in the world at 7 miles long...:()

 

I expect the same tonight...

 

The section of the Bay Bridge that failed is scheduled to be replaced by a new span by 2013 or so...

[Fredr]

Randy,

 

There may be people monitoring the SF Bay bridge situation. If they are on the NCL ship and have flights out of Oakland on 11/3, do you have any recommendations as to what these folks should do now?

 

I would see if they could change their flights to either San Francisco or very late in day out of San Jose. Or do you think that by 11/3 that BART will be the best option?

 

As you live in the Bay Area I am sure that whatever recommendations you have will be greatly appreciated. I used to live in San Francisco but left almost 38 years ago.

[deepnite10]

especially important to those who live in calif..thinking you ll save a little by flying into OAK the day of the debarkation..use SFO..

 

and if your driving in..find a way to get to the San Mateo bridge..further south take Hwy 101 or 280 to San Francisco..

[mjesf]

Randy,

 

There may be people monitoring the SF Bay bridge situation. If they are on the NCL ship and have flights out of Oakland on 11/3, do you have any recommendations as to what these folks should do now?

 

I would see if they could change their flights to either San Francisco or very late in day out of San Jose. Or do you think that by 11/3 that BART will be the best option?

 

As you live in the Bay Area I am sure that whatever recommendations you have will be greatly appreciated. I used to live in San Francisco but left almost 38 years ago.

 

Here is what I would do should the Bay Bridge be closed and I had to get from Pier 35 to OAK on 11/3.

 

1) Take a cab to the Hyatt Regency in the Embarcadero Center which is next door to the Embarcadero BART station. If you packed light, you can take the F Market to the Embarcadero BART station instead.

2) Take BART to the Coliseum / Oakland Airport Station

3) Take AirBART to the OAK terminal

4) Fly home

 

If you do this, make sure you put $6.80 on your BART ticket to cover both the BART fare and the AirBART shuttle (you just drop the ticket in the farebox for the latter.) A cab should be less than Ten Dollars and if you do the F Line instead, the fare is Two Dollars.

 

Hope this helps.

[Randy H]

Unless something goes very very wrong it will be fixed by 11/3...

 

If it isn't, passengers can (as suggested above) take Bart and the connecting shuttle. Time, should not exceed two hours...

 

Alternately, you can take a cab or shuttle south to the San Mateo bridge, then north to Oakland... According to Google it is 20 miles and 47 minutes via the Bay Bridge, or 28 miles and 55 minutes via the San Mateo to the Oakland Airport... so really only 8 minutes extra by car... Traffic has been reasonable during away from commute times... so the bridge isn't a big problem for cruise ship passengers.

 

On the other hand if you commute across the bridge, its a big deal...

[deepnite10]

for us who commute regularly on BART or even use it on occasion..it s a snap..

 

but, for out of towners who ve never used the system..it can be a bit of a hassle..it s really not that user friendly..especially if you don t know the area..and the area around the bart station is nt that great either..

[deepnite10]

UPDATE..

 

just heard on KGO that they were about 8 hrs from completion..then they ll have a inspection team go thru all the repairs..hopefully there won t be

any other surprises..:)

[deepnite10]

wish i could have edited the above post..now they say they ll still be working on the bridge thru the weekend..maybe monday they ll reopen..:confused:

[Randy H]

Inside sources say Caltrans is scared... the Labor Day fix failed... now they have to have any fix vetted by outside sources. The outside sources don't have the same sense of urgency that Caltrans does... Any fix needs to be enginnered, tested, and approved.

 

Inside sources suggest Tuesday AM for an opening... But no one is certain

[Randy H]

Sunday Night Update...

 

Its still closed... no published opening time... they are suggesting that it won't be open Monday...

 

For SF cruise passengers... it won't be an issue... SFO is not affected, Oakland Airport is accessible either via the San Mateo Bridge... (add 20 minutes off peak, more if between 5:00 am and 9:00 am or between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm...) Alternately take BART... regular travel times apply, but be aware the trains will be more crowded...

 

On the other hand, San Francisco is less crowded on weekends... Lots of parking, short waiting times in restaurants...

[nna]

just an update