Bay Area drivers navigate APEC-related traffic changes with summit underway in SF
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As the set up for President Joe Biden's APEC party at the Exploratorium is well underway, drivers headed into San Francisco noticed a little more traffic on the roads Tuesday morning.
More roads have closed for APEC, including one lane in both directions on the Bay Bridge, but luckily, it wasn't much different from an average Tuesday.
No parking signs are appearing around every other corner in San Francisco.
Tall black fencing lines certain parts of the city and the Bay Bridge toll plaza were at a standstill Tuesday morning.
MORE: 2023 APEC summit: Everything to know about San Francisco road closures, security and more
All for APEC, as upwards of 20,000 people from across the world visit the city.
"It's wild, it's crazy, I've never seen anything like this before!," said Scott Lieberman, San Francisco resident.
He says he went out of town Saturday and just came back Monday night to a transformed city.
"I hope that it does what the city wants it to do for local businesses because this is like nuts," Lieberman said.
MORE: Day-by-Day timeline of APEC Summit in San Francisco
California Highway Patrol spokesman Andrew Barclay says starting Tuesday, one lane of the Bay Bridge will remain closed from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
On the eastbound side, the Fourth St. off-ramp is closed and on the westbound side. The Fifth St. off-ramp is also closed.
"This is designed for numerous reasons, a lot of it involves security but also just making sure we have units in position to be able to respond to incidents quickly as needed," Ofc. Barclay said.
He said the CHP has brought in more than 1,000 uniformed and non-uniformed personnel for supplemental staffing from across the state.
"This is something I think anybody who's been in San Francisco hopefully at this point understands how large of an operation this is. We have dignitaries and heads of state from across the world converging on San Francisco which is a logistic and a security big deal, so it's a lot of work going into this," he said.
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