Benicia-Martinez Bridge
Built to replace the ferries crossing the Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Martinez, the Benicia-Martinez Bridge is now a bustling span, and was the first of Northern California's bridges to feature an open road tolling system.
While it took a half-century of traffic growth to require a bridge to replace the ferries crossing the Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Martinez, it took only a couple of decades for ballooning traffic on Interstates 680 and 780 to overwhelm the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, also known as the George Miller Jr. Bridge.
To accommodate the growth, the Bay Area Transit Authority (BATA) and Caltrans completed a second, parallel span that carries five lanes of northbound traffic. The toll plaza on the bridge features Northern California's first open road tolling system, allowing FasTrak® customers to travel through the toll plaza at freeway speeds.
A new bicycle and pedestrian pathway on the bridge in 2009. How many people cross each day?
In 2009, the original span of the Benicia-Martinez was seismically retrofitted, and then converted to carry four lanes of southbound traffic.
Bridge Facts At-A-Glance
| Location: | Interstate 680 between Solano and Contra Costa counties |
| Structure: | Deck truss |
| Length: | 1.2 miles |
| Vertical Clearance: | 138 feet |
| Channel Span: | 528 feet |
| Opened: | September 1962 (widened in 1991, parallel structure in 2007) |
| Cost: |
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| Auto Toll: | $7 |
| Carpools: | $3.50 |
| Collection: | One-way, northbound in Martinez |
| Traffic Lanes: | Four in southern direction, five in northern direction |
| FY 2022-23 Total Toll-Paid Vehicles: | 19,849,907 |
| FY 2022-23 Total Tolls Collected: | $137,709,891 |
| Bridge Path Counter Data: | Access bicycle and pedestrian counter data |
See vehicle traffic and public transit ridership numbers from 2019 to the present.
The second span of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge is named in honor of Congressman George Miller, who is the son of late State Assemblymember and state Senator George Miller, Jr.
Regional Measure 1, approved by Bay Area voters in 1988, raised tolls on the Bay Area’s seven state-owned toll bridges to fund bridge improvements and parkway construction.