Caltrans blasting away 13 of 19 remaining piers from old Bay Bridge this weekend

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Starting this weekend, Caltrans will begin blasting away 13 of the remaining 19 piers that once held up the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

Crews are planting explosives this week to implode two old piers near the Yerba Buena island side of the old span.

TIMELAPSE VIDEO: Last truss of Bay Bridge's old eastern span removed

The demolition will take place on Saturday morning at slack tide when it would have the least impact on sea life and birds.

CHP officers will close off the Bay Bridge to traffic for at least a half hour. Highway patrol boats on the water will keep recreational boaters at least 1,500 feet away, and BART will delay trains going through the Transbay Tube for 15 minutes while the work takes place.

RELATED: Demolition of old Bay Bridge span ahead of schedule

Caltrans says the explosives will have negligible impact on the current bay bridge or the Transbay Tube, but traffic will be limited out of an abundance of caution.

The people most affected will be those who use the Bay Bridge bike and pedestrian walkway. It will be closed down from the Sunday before the implosion until the all clear is sounded on Saturday, a couple of hours after the work is done.

Additional demolition work will take place the weekends of September 16, September 30, October 14, October 28, and November 11.

Click here for more information from Caltrans on the planned demolition and click here for more stories and videos about the Bay Bridge.