All lanes reopen on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge after concrete problems

Pieces of concrete began falling from the Richmond-San Rafael bridge on Thursday, according to the CHP. Pieces of concrete began falling from the Richmond-San Rafael bridge on Thursday, according to the CHP. Photo: CHP Marin Photo: CHP Marin Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close All lanes reopen on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge after concrete problems 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

All lanes of Interstate 580 on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge were closed for hours Thursday morning after large chunks of concrete started falling from the upper deck onto the lower level, according to the California Highway Patrol.

By 3 p.m., one lane had been opened in each direction, with Caltrans saying they hoped to fully reopen the bridge by 6 p.m.

But by 4 p.m., officials were forced to close all lanes again as the limited flow of traffic "caused additional pieces of roadway to come loose and fall."

"As our patrol unit was sitting there monitoring the traffic that was flowing, concrete started coming back down — chunks large enough that he immediately closed the lanes," said Officer Andrew Barclay, a spokesman for the CHP. "I asked him for the size, he said anywhere from pebble-sized to slightly larger than a baseball so obviously, safety concern there again."

He added that the falling concrete was linked to the activity of Caltrans crews on the bridge.

One eastbound lane was reopened about 4:30 p.m., with a second lane welcoming traffic shortly before 6 p.m. All lanes in both directions were reopened by 8:20 p.m. Traffic is expected to be severe.

WHAT TO DO: Your (extremely limited) options for getting around the bridge

The issues began at 10:35 a.m. when the California Highway Patrol received a panicked 911 call from a driver en route to the airport, who said a large chunk of concrete had fallen onto their car as they drove east across the bridge, causing major damage to the vehicle.

"Obviously with a call like that, we sent officers out to inspect," said Barclay. "They were able to find large chunks of concrete and could see more concrete falling from the upper deck onto the lower deck."

All eastbound lanes of the bridge were closed, and the westbound lanes were also closed shortly thereafter. The concrete was falling about a quarter mile west of the toll plaza, stranding eastbound drivers on the majority of the span of the bridge after lanes were closed.

Once the upper deck of the bridge was also closed, Barclay said, officials were able to verify that with no more traffic flowing across the upper deck, the chunks of concrete stopped falling on the lower deck.

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"Once we were able to sit there and watch it for a minute, and verify there was no concrete, we were able to get that eastbound traffic moving and on their way," he said.

The trapped cars were gradually escorted off by highway patrol vehicles, with all cars off the bridge by 1 p.m.

Caltrans engineers were on the scene by 2 p.m., and determined that it would be safe to open one lane in each direction while doing the necessary inspections and repairs.

A Caltrans spokesman did not want to speculate as to the cause of the falling concrete, but confirmed that there is a construction project currently taking place on the bridge and that the bridge is well-trafficked.

"Obviously the bridge gets used a lot, so there's a heavy usage of the bridge and just like anything, if you use it a lot, there's a lot of wear and tear," he said. "There's no good time to close a bridge, but obviously we want to be safe."

Barclay noted at the time that the number one lane was reopened in each direction, so the eastbound and westbound traffic are on opposite sides of the bridge.

"You don't have one lane on top of the other right now on the bridge," he said."After we saw what we saw earlier today, we don't want to have cars right on top of each other."

The lanes have since been closed again.