Smooth morning commute on first day of Folsom Street off-ramp closure

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The morning commute into San Francisco has gone smoothly so far today following the overnight closure of a major off-ramp from the Bay Bridge into the city, a transportation official said.

The Folsom Street off-ramp from westbound Interstate Highway 80 closed for a project that will last through March to increase pedestrian access in the area and reconfigure the off-ramp to increase traffic efficiency.

Commuters coming in to San Francisco from the East Bay seemed a little shocked Tuesday morning that the commute was so quick. Visions of gridlock and Bay Bridge back-up never materialized.

"I didn't see any changes reading the signs I thought it was going to be a lot worse," Renan Molina, an East Bay commuter, said. "So far it was not much of a change."

Liz Rutman, the project manager, who was monitoring traffic since before the sun came up, gave ABC7 News positive updates on the traffic throughout the morning.

"So far, everything looks better than we could have hoped," Rutman said. "No back-ups on the ramp, nothing out of the ordinary, everything looks great."

Turns out not that many people use the Folsom off ramp.

"It's about ten percent of the ramp traffic from the bridge uses the Folsom leg the other 90 percent uses the Fremont leg," Rutman said.

The hope is that drivers who use the Folsom leg will split up, that some will take Fremont and the others will take the Harrison off-ramp, which also looked clear this morning. It could be because commuters planned accordingly this morning, but even those who forgot about the closure had an easy morning.

"We didn't leave earlier," Sean Uyehara, an East Bay commuter said. "I didn't know what to expect it but it was fine."

The hope is that new construction will make the intersection safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

More information about the $3.5 million off-ramp project can be found online at www.sfcta.org/FolsomRamp.