Source: MTC. Photo credit: Noah Berger
Right side of upper deck to be used as highway shoulder Monday-Thursday
By John Goodwin, Assistant Director of Communications, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) today announced that beginning next week, the bicycle/pedestrian path on the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge will be closed from Sundays at 11 p.m. until Thursdays at 2 p.m., with the barrier moved to allow the space now occupied by the path to be used as a highway shoulder for westbound traffic. The first weekday on which the shoulder will be available will be Monday, Oct. 27.
The bicycle/pedestrian path will be open from 2 p.m. on Thursdays through 11 p.m. on Sundays as well as on select weekday holidays. These include Memorial Day; Independence Day, if observed on a Monday; Labor Day; Thanksgiving week from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday night; and the Christmas-to-New Year week.
On days when the bicycle/pedestrian path is closed, a free shuttle with a bicycle trailer will be provided from 6 a.m. through 8 p.m. On the Richmond side of the bridge, the shuttle pick-up and drop-off location is at the AC Transit bus turnaround on Tewksbury Avenue in the Point Richmond neighborhood. The San Rafael pick-up and drop-off location is at the Vista Point parking lot near the intersection of East Francisco Blvd. and Main Street. Signs alerting bicyclists and pedestrians to the new operating hours already are in place on approaches to the bridge from both Richmond and San Rafael.
BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as MTC, administers toll revenues from the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
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