Solo crash at Bay Bridge Toll Plaza brings up questions about planned removal of toll booths
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A solo car crash at the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza impacted westbound traffic early Monday morning.
It happened around 4 a.m. and video shows a car wedged in between two of the toll plaza booths.
Ambulance, fire and Caltrans crews were on scene. A person was being taken away on a stretcher but their condition is not known.
Caltrans crews worked to restore the toll lanes impacted in the solo crash.
Crews cleared the scene at 6 a.m., but East Bay drivers heading into the city faced residual delays, made worse by the Monday morning commute.
VIDEO: Here's why removal of 7 Bay Area tollbooths won't happen until 2026
The incident brought up questions about the long-planned removal of the toll booths.
Renderings show what the Bay Bridge might look like after that eventual demolition, which Caltrans previously announced it was delaying until February 2026.
Caltrans says it wants to upgrade the automatic toll collection system and remove the booths at the same time.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission - Bay Area Toll Authority says the Bay Bridge will be the final location of toll booth removal as it is the most complex.
Spokesperson John Goodwin addressed how the change might impact drivers' behavior behind the wheel.
"It is a tight squeeze and it's signed for slowing to 25 mph," Goodwin said. "Now, the upside to all of this, is that when the transition to open-road tolling is complete, there will no longer be any toll booths, no longer any need to slow down to squeeze through that narrow opening."
Booths will be taken down at every state-owned toll bridge and replaced with open-road tolling. During the pandemic human toll collectors were removed.
Beyond this morning's crash, in 2017, a Bay Bridge toll worker was killed after a drunk driver crashed into the booth.
