Bridge, BART closures add to Bay Area traffic problems

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- Bridge and BART closures added to a full schedule of events around the Bay Area that lead to lots of cars on the road and plenty of impatience. Work on the San Mateo Bridge began late Friday night and traffic headaches have kicked in all weekend long.

WATCH LIVE: San Mateo Bridge cam

The tangled mess of traffic on Saturday night originated with the shutdown of all lanes on the San Mateo Bridge. It's the first time the entire bridge has been resurfaced since 1967.

So on Saturday, people piled onto the Bay Bridge as their alternate route. Whether it was a day trip with mom to the city or a 6 p.m. San Francisco Giants game, it was gridlock.

"I left my house at 3 p.m. and we got here at 5 p.m." said Livermore resident Christina Sanchez. "So we ate all of our snacks before we even got here."

Concord resident Mike Acuna added, "Right when we hit the 24, 580 interchange it was really bad. Worse than rush hour."

Sacramento resident Andrew Hall said it wasn't a bad drive until they got to Berkeley. Then he says it took a while to get over the bridge

The other direction wasn't any better. Driving between news stories, our ABC7 News crew clocked in 2 1/4 hours getting from San Mateo to Oakland. By nightfall, things seemed to calm down. But expect another rough drive for Mother's Day.

The San Mateo Bridge will reopen Monday at 5 a.m. The best part is everyone gets to look forward to Memorial Day weekend. That's when they can do this all over again. The San Mateo Bridge will be closed for another few days to finish the work.

Impacting the traffic nightmare is suspended BART service between the Fruitvale and Coliseum-Oakland Airport stations. A crew is working on a rail replacement project. A bus bridge is helping riders travel between the stations, though BART says there could be 30 minute delays. Service is expected to be running again Monday morning.

Click here for full coverage and watch ABC7 News' live San Mateo Bridge cam here.

To find out more about the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge Deck Resurfacing and Treatment Project, click here.

Watch ABC7 News for updates throughout the weekend.