Emergency repairs on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge snarl traffic for hours

RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- There was a headache for commuters on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Monday. Caltrans did emergency roadwork to repair a hole in the upper deck, which caused some concrete to fall onto the lower deck of the bridge.

Traffic was backed up for miles approaching the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in both directions. Commuter Oscar Navarro had to pull over and wait it out.

"I'm trying to get home, so far it's taken about an hour from the Oakland Airport, pretty long," said Navarro.

Emergency bridge repair work mid-span is the cause after a small hole was discovered on the upper deck Monday morning.

"We had some concrete spalling, what people would think of as a pothole about three inches wide but it kind of made its way all the way through as one inch hole on the bottom," said Cal Trans spokesperson Bart Ney.

It caused some concrete to fall onto the lower bridge deck. Caltrans says there were no reports of injury or damage to cars.

One lane on the upper deck and two lanes on the lower deck were shut down for the repair work.

"They'll be cutting that concrete out shortly then they'll be placing form work, that's why you see a scissor lift out there we're not going have the upper deck open until later tonight," Ney added.

In 2019, there were three incidents of falling concrete. Caltrans says that wasn't a pothole. It was due to failing joints where two sections come together.

MORE: Third falling concrete incident in a year on Richmond- San Rafael Bridge raises questions

Officials say that issue was addressed and repaired.

"The Richmond San Rafael Bridge is about to turn 70, so it's been an operation for a little while, we have to stay on top of it. This deck still has a good bit of life left in it. We do have a project coming along to replace it, but that's a good five years out so we'll continue to do these types of repairs," said Ney.

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