Hundreds of Bay Area workers toiled tirelessly through Thursday night to reach a goal of Tuesday morning for the bridge's reopening.
According to spokesperson Andrew Gordon, final construction on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge that connects Oakland to San Francisco is going well, and that goal date is feasible.
He told the San Francisco Chronicle that crews have finished up some of the paving needed to conjoin the new suspension to the Yerba Buena tunnels. He said that by Friday, things should be wrapping up in preparation for the reopening of the bridge.
Construction crews have made noted progress on a new bike and pedestrian path that the fresh bridge will feature, in addition to paving work near the toll plaza.
"We are demolishing a 1,000-foot section of the original westbound approach so we can put in that temporary connector for the bike and pedestrian path, and at noon on Tuesday the public can start using that bike and pedestrian," Gordon told the Chronicle. "So far, they have removed about 90 percent of the concrete from the roadway of that 1,000-foot-long section and they are about halfway through removing some of the smaller steel sections."
Despite warnings from Bay Area officials that traffic would be backed up beyond belief, no serious problems occurred, according to the Associated Press.
Bay Area commuters did experience bouts of sluggishness around town due to heightened numbers of cars on the road, but no major traffic issues were reported.
Meanwhile, at the toll plaza, workers are grinding away the ground that lays nearly six inches deep to put in a new drainage system before pouring new cement on top, then painting lane stripes.
"We hit a pretty important milestone last night-all the grinding is done on the westbound side, and on the eastbound side we are just wrapping up grinding and asphalt removal," Richard Grabinski, vice president at contracting company Flat Iron, told the Chronicle.
Crews will continue paving through the weekend.
"As of now, it's going well, we are on schedule and look forward to opening on time," he stated.
