BAY BRIDGE (KRON) -- We could know by late this afternoon when the Bay Bridge will re-open to traffic. Caltrans officials say they will have a better idea about when the work on the span will be complete at a 5:00 p.m. news conference. You can watch a live stream of that event on KRON4.com
Officials say the initial reason for the closure, the need to slide one section of the bridge out of the way and a new section in to the eastern tie-in of Yerba Buena island remains on schedule.
"We still have a lot of work to do though on all of the utilities we have to re-connect on the bridge," Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said. "There's fiber-optic lines, there's a 12-inch water main, there are electric lines. All of that stuff is going on right now. There's a lot of barrier rail work that we're in the process of doing. There's striping. There are all of the little detail things that we have to finish at this point."
The hang-up involves a crack found on the eastern span during a routine inspection early in the closure. Workers are now putting a sleeve on the cracked eyebar. A contractor in Arizona worked through the weekend to create the replacement parts and fly them on a chartered airplane to the Bay Area. Still officials say they don't yet know when that work will be complete.
"I'm not going to handicap it," Ney added. "It's a big challenge. I think we've said it's a monumental challenge to make it by 5:00 a.m."
Ney promises workers are trying their best to get everything done as soon as possible.
"As soon as it's done, we're going to open the bridge and that's about all we can say right now," Ney added. "I can tell you all of the engineers, all of the contractors, everybody putting anything into this, right down to the janitorial staff, are doing everything they can do to get the bridge open as soon as possible. We can't handicap it. We can't give you a time. All we can do is give you our assurance that we're doing everything we possible."
Stay tuned to KRON 4 and KRON4.com for complete coverage of the Bay Bridge project. Watch our special report tonight at 9:00 p.m. and follow the progress Tuesday starting at 4:00 a.m.
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