Hide Article Text (OCR)
Bay area bracesfor backups as* Vfreeway rebuiltTRANSPORTATION:Four months of repairs begin on the quake-damaged Central Freeway, through the heart of San Francisco..)The Associated PressSAN FRANCISCO — Motorists are bracing for what could be the worst traffic jams in recent San Francisco history as workers begin tearing down and repairing the city’s earthquake-damaged Central Freeway.The four-month, $7 million project to repair the freeway that leads from the San Francis-co-Oakland Bay Bridge into the Civic Center area from the east and from Highway 101 to the San Francisco Peninsula from the south is scheduled to start this weekend.The California Department of Transportation plans to close the double-decker freeway between Mission and Fell streets at midnight Sunday.In preparation for the inevitable gridlock, Caltrans and city officials have plotted alternate routes, beseeched drivers to use public transit, sent out thousands of fliers and even hired dozens of extra officers to help manage the congestion.“We’re asking people to come in to work earlier and leave later, to check out car pools and public transit, and to skip unnecessary trips,” said Paul Hensley, Caltrans deputy district director ofoperations. “If people make a ternate plans, it can make a bi difference out there.” Regardless, the morning con mute could be nightmarish, an the evening commute eve worse, officials said. ‘ • ),The best-case scenario is a 2( minute traffic delay, but ,ths only would be possible if 20 pel cent of drivers change commul times or routes and another. 2 percent cancel their trips altc gether, Hensley said.The worst-case scenario woul be a bumper-to-bumper mes through San Francisco with • two-hour backup. •“You can’t eliminate fou lanes of a freeway and expec things to go smoothly,” Hensle said. “Traffic is like water — it-just going to flow all over until i balances itself out. The probler is the city streets don’t have tli capacity to handle so much.”-Caltrans suggests that motor ists coming into the city over th bridge exit the freeway as soo as possible, then use surfac streets. Drivers coming from tH south are being urged to us Highway 280 instead of 101.! • And most important, Caltran says, drivers should avoid th nub of the Central Freeway tha will remain open — the single deck portion between Interstat 80 and Mission Street. ■ ■■ • ' Demolition of the Centre Freeway’s upper deck is only th first part of a highway retrofi and rebuilding project that coul take up to four years to complete Caltrans hopes to finish the firs project by Christmas.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Evening Blade
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Aug 23, 1996
Page 126
Full Page
Clipped by
California S.
CA, USA 07 Jun 2019
Other Publications Near Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana Pacific Weekly Blade
Santa Ana Excelsior
Santa Ana News
Santa Ana Evening Blade
Santa Ana Orange County Register Evening
