In 2023, the toll was $7. Carpool rates, 3+ persons per vehicle, is half price. [511]
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| Street View, Dec 2020 |
I was unaware of this bridge until I saw this post. The westbound lanes are over the eastbound lanes.
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| Highway Engineering Discoveries posted [I left off the comment because it is wrong.] |
The namesake is worth noting because he is not a politician, sports figure nor war hearo.
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| HistoricBridges Superstructure Project Manager for San Rafael Bridge Source: California Highways and Public Works Magazine |
When built, the 4.5 mile (7 1/4km) bridge was the longest steel structure in California. "Today, over 75,000 commuters use the bridge daily to cross the northern end of the San Francisco Bay." [hmdb]
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| Bridges Now and Then posted San Rafael Bridge,Ansel Adams,1962. Bridges Now and Then shared BNaT Classic Eric Ladner: Those of us who lived on the east side called it the Richmond Bridge. |
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| TrailLink In Nov 2019, a bike path was opened. [This is the upper deck in the suspended span of one of the cantilevers. They sacrificed one of the 3 westbound lanes for it. However, one of the three lanes in the eastbound direction is a right-hand shoulder a "breakdown lane." [kids] So the traffic capacity in both directions is equal.] |
The bike path cost $20m and is "A four-year program set to conclude in November will determine the worthiness of a bike and pedestrian pathway that eliminated a traffic lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in the Bay Area." The bike path has been "severely underutilized" while the morning commute is nightmarish. "One proposed solution is to temporarily close the pedestrian and bike path on the westbound side during the morning commute. This route would be open to traffic until the commute is over. The moveable divider could be moved to the side, similar to what happens on the Golden Gate Bridge during commute hours. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) argues that little would be gained in terms of time or health benefits compared to the days prior to the pathway's opening. 'The time it takes to travel through the corridor grew by one minute. There was congestion before and there is congestion now,' said MTC Spokesman John Goodwin." [ktvu]
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| kids, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA), author: Mliu92 "Comparison of Richmond-San Rafael Bridge piers before and after reconstruction for seismic concerns. Top photo was taken in 2003 and shows the eastern cantilever span. Pier bracing is 'chevron-style' and diagonal braces come to a common central point. Bottom photo was taken in 2011 after reconstruction was complete and shows the western cantilever span. Note difference in vertical clearance between western span (180 ft) and eastern span (135 ft) which is reflected in the height of the supporting piers. Reconstructed pier bracing is 'eccentric' and diagonal braces no longer come to a common central point." In 2001 a five-year seismic retrofit and rehabilitation program started. The project cost over $1b in 2023 dollars. Both traffic lanes were kept open during the day and one lane was kept open overnight. (The original construction cost $618m in 2023 dollars). |
The seismic retrofit of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge involved strengthening all parts of the structure from the foundations and bridge deck to the steel towers and trestle. Retrofitting the foundations presented the most daunting challenge for the project. The strait is subject to strong currents, high winds, and low to no underwater visibility. Under these difficult conditions, workers installed large diameter piles in between the bell-shaped foundations of eleven of the bridge’s piers. Forty-seven bridge piers were retrofitted with micropiles, in which smaller diameter piles were drilled through the existing foundation. A total of 480 micropiles were installed throughout the structure.
Another challenging aspect of the retrofit involved modifications that allowed controlled movement of the structure during an earthquake. Viscous dampers were installed at the existing towers’ anchorages. In an earthquake, the dampers allow the bridge to expand or contract by as much as six feet. The action absorbs the earthquake’s energy preventing additional structural damage. Some of the bridge’s dampers are as large as a semi-truck, weighing two tons each. Isolation joints and bearing further strengthen the main bridge structure and allow appropriate movement during an earthquake.[hmdb]
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| TutorPerini This bridge is still the longest steel bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. "Among the many tasks were strengthening the piers and installing "viscous dampers" — essentially, massive shock absorbers. Despite the many challenges, the project came in $136 million under budget [$762m]. While most of the bridge structure was retrofitted, the low-lying trestle section on the Marin County side had to be completely replaced. Caltrans and the contractors replaced the entire trestle, section by section, while keeping the bridge open to traffic the entire time." [It is easier to come under budget if the budget keeps getting increased. See kids for the details of the budget numbers and their conversion to 2023 dollars. Kids also describes how a 900-ton barge-mounted crane helped replace the roadway with 100' (30m) 500-ton pre-cast concrete roadway segments.] |
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| Bridges Now and Then posted "The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on San Francisco Bay under construction, November 30, 1955. Shot by my brother on 35mm Kodachrome from a car ferry heading east toward Richmond. Smoke at left is from a San Rafael-bound ferry passing out of camera range to the north." (Shorpy/tterrace) |
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| Bridges Now and Then posted "Construction continues on the future Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (circa 1954). Taken from Richmond by my grandfather with Mt. Tamalpais in the distance." (Chris Heaton) |
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| Maureen Price commented on the above post Richmond San Rafael 2020 by Mike Oria. |
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