Caltrans reopens I-280 in SF ahead of schedule

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Caltrans completed work on a stretch of Interstate 280 in San Francisco on Sunday and was able to reopen the roadway about 10 hours ahead of schedule.

Crews worked for more than 100 hours uninterrupted, and they made great progress. Early Sunday evening they were busy wrapping up and getting ready to reopen the stretch of 280. All that was left was some minor detail work. The concrete forms for the side rails were removed and all the heavy lifting equipment was driven off.

Construction crews started working on the project just after 9 p.m. Wednesday. The roadway reopened around 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

During that time, I-280 was closed from the U.S. Highway 101 interchange to downtown San Francisco. Motorists were unable to use highway off-ramps including Mariposa Street, Sixth Street and King Street.

While the roadway was closed, crews replaced a hinge that connects two sections of the flyover freeway. Two six foot pieces were jack-hammered off and a brand new connecting hinge was installed. According to Caltrans, the hinge connects two parts of a bridge to expand and contract during earthquakes and other strong movements.

This is a project that was scheduled to be completed by 5 a.m. Monday.

Now that the projects is wrapped up, the northbound lanes of the 280 extension will be shut down one more time this year. That will happen on Labor Day weekend. For that job, crews will be replacing two hinges on the northbound lanes of 280.

Caltrans is still working on the specifics of that project.

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(Bay City News contributed to this report)