Daytime Closures of Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Bicycle/Pedestrian Path to Begin Next Week

The new bicycle/pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge will be closed for five hours each weekday, beginning Monday, Feb. 24 and continuing through Friday, March 13, to allow Caltrans to perform structural inspections of the span. The three-week inspection period originally was scheduled to begin in late January but was postponed to accommodate upgrades to the “arm” of the specialized truck that allows inspectors to access the underside of the bridge’s upper deck. The truck will be parked on the north side of the bridge and will completely block the 10-foot-wide path. 

The Federal Highway Administration requires highway bridge inspections to be conducted every two years. Caltrans aims to conduct as much of the inspection work as possible during the final weeks of the winter season to avoid closures of the bicycle/pedestrian path during the spring and summer.

The four-mile-long path will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day beginning Monday, Feb. 24 through Friday, Feb. 28. The pathway also will be closed during the same hours from Monday, March 2 through Friday, March 6, and from Monday, March 9 through Friday, March 13. Inclement weather may prompt Caltrans to cancel inspections for a day, and to reschedule work for a later date. Traffic lanes for westbound motorists will remain open during the path closures. Travel information is available on Caltrans’ QuickMap page at quickmap.dot.ca.gov and at 511.org.

The Richmond-San Rafael bicycle/pedestrian path, which opened to the public in November 2019, was developed through a partnership between the Bay Area Toll Authority, Caltrans, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and the Transportation Authority of Marin. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. 

Caltrans’ Under-Bridge Inspection Truck on the job at Bay Bridge East Span

(Photo courtesy of Caltrans)