Caltrans Says 50 Days to Reopen Collapsed Freeway

The California state transportation agency is soliciting proposals from nine construction companies over the weekend, in an expedited bidding process, and will award the contract on Monday evening.

The firms must repair the collapsed freeway by June 29 or face $200,000 a day in penalties from the state, reports the San Francisco Chronicle, citing what Caltrans director Will Kempton announced at a press conference. But should they finish the work ahead of schedule, they'll earn a $200,000-a-day bonus for each day they were ahead of the deadline.

On Wednesday, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced that the connector from westbound I-80 to southbound I-880 would reopen in roughly a week. However, the repair work on the I-580 span will require that the I-880 connector be closed from time to time, presumably at night.

Meanwhile, Caltrans has recommended detours around the closed freeway connectors:

East I-80 drivers coming off the Bay Bridge and headed to the Oakland, Hayward or Walnut Creek areas have three alternate routes to bypass the collapsed section of east I-580 and connect farther down the highway to east I-580 and east SR-24:

• Take south I-880, exit at Broadway-Alameda, stay in the off-ramp's left lane and turn right onto Seventh Street. Continue on Seventh Street and then turn left on Castro Street. Continue on Castro Street to the 12th Street on-ramp to east I-980 to the east I-580 junction.
• Exit at West Grand Avenue, turn left on Northgate Avenue, enter the on-ramp to east I-580.
• Take east I-80 and exit at Albany/Buchanan, turn left under freeway, left onto west I-80 and continue to east I-580.

West I-80 drivers coming from Richmond who need to bypass the closed I-80-to-I-880 connector and get on to south I-880 farther down the highway have at least one alternative route:

• Take east I-580 to west I-980 to south I-880.

Motorists going from the Bay Bridge to eastbound Highway 24 are also taking I-80 to Ashby Avenue ( Highway 13), following Highway 13 past the Claremont Hotel up to Tunnel Road, where it crosses Highway 24. Yesterday I was walking in my neighborhood in mid-afternoon, and saw that at roughly 2:30 PM, eastbound Ashby Avenue was a long, narrow parking lot. The recommended detour must be pretty bad if people think this is a viable alternative.