ricebowl

For a fee. Seems like a unique opportunity.

UmneyDurak

What a waste of money.

JoelS

That sounds like a horrible, crowded, event.

knotty

If that money went into a bike path that went the whole distance, from SF to Oakland, I'd make a donation.

ricebowl

I hate crowds bordering on a phobia. But I am mildly tempted. I regret missing both golden gate bridge anniversaries because I didn't want to deal with the crowds

DiabloScott

I think I'll do it... what the hell - it's a Sunday, it's a once-in-a-lifetime big deal; I'll take photos and post them here for all you agorophobic skin flints. At first I thought it was a $37 fee but that number isn't related to anything real; it's just the cost of the whole ceremony divided by the number of expected participants. Actual fee might be less than the BART ticket to get back home.

Bay Area bridge commuters will be ponying up $37 for each of the 150,000 people expected to walk across the new Bay Bridge span during the big Labor Day opening celebration.
That's the breakdown on the math for the $5.6 million in toll money going toward the public side of the public-private celebration marking completion of the new eastern span.

On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 1, as many as 15,000 bicyclists will be allowed for a fee to ride from Oakland to San Francisco - followed by the concert and fireworks that night.

bjorke

I'm with you, Scott. How could I miss this one, after missing the "flatten the bridge" swarm on the Golden Gate? Once in a lifetime.

B. Carfree

If I remember my history correctly (big IF), once in a lifetime is about right. IIRC, when the Bay Bridge first opened, people were allowed to walk/ride across. It was a bit before my time, about a lifetime ago in fact.

cccorlew

I hate crowds too. But 15,000 cyclists is a guess, and it's a big bridge. If possible, I'll be going.

I'm more worried about 15,000 cyclists taking BART back to the East Bay at the same time.

Bryan C. 

Yeah, it is a bit of a waste of money. That being said, I will either be part of the group walking or biking across as long as the celebration doesn't get cancelled. I signed up at the https://www.baybridgecelebration.com/ website to get notified when registartion starts. Definitely a big deal to get to do it, at least for me. I plan on bringing my kids too. At least the new half of the bridge will have pedestrian/bicycle access. Riding to Treasure Island sounds like a nice ride on a sunny afternoon.

ricebowl

Depending on price I'll be there.

You're right, didn't think about that. Except I'll have the opposite problem getting into oakland probably isn't going to be nice either.
Thanks for the link.

Dchiefransom

People might as well go, since they're wasting tax dollars, as well as the fee each person pays.

DiabloScott

OAKLAND -- The $5.6 million Bay Bridge opening day festivities/walk will go on as planned, but transit officials can't decide if the public should pay to play.

Members of the Bay Area Toll Authority agreed Wednesday to spend $5.6 million in bridge toll money so the public can walk across the Bay Bridge a day before the new east span opens to vehicles. But they couldn't decide whether to charge walkers to help cover costs.

Some Bay Area Toll Authority members said it would be unfair to charge a fee when the new east span is being financed with $6.4 billion in public funds.

Others, however, said making pedestrians pay a modest $5 fee to trek from Oakland to San Francisco is a reasonable way to reduce expenses.

$5 ??!!?? Same price as a toll???? Big whoop. I'll kick in for a couple of extra indigents who want to come along... send me a PM.

scrubbo

Doesn't sound like it's going to be $5 to bike. Tissier suggested a $5 fee per walker, a charge many times lower than participants will pay for an organized bike ride and run across the bridge over the same Labor Day weekend.

Cause... you know... there will be fewer of us. So you better soak us for more per person.

DiabloScott

It's over 5 miles from the toll plaza to Embarcadero... Good distance for runners, but I'd be surprised if there're that many people who want to walk it because:

1. It's twice as far as the GGB, and
2. It's not the GGB.

Still that means they'll have to charge the cyclists even MORE.

Maybe they could sell advertising to Cytomax and ClifBars.

bjorke

You didn't know that from now on it's to be called the Oracle Database 11g Real Application Clusters Bay Bridge? (at least, west of treasure island)

SeanBlader

Hmm, wonder. Should I ride to Bart in Milpitas then take Caltrain back to San Jose? Have to look and see what time they're starting if I want to make it a huge day like that.

DiabloScott

Looks like the Feds have OK'ed the Memorial Day opening... local "oversite committee" is still uncomitted.

blt

The general consensus seems to be that it is 50-50 to have a Labor Day weekend shutdown of the bridge followed by opening of the new span. Safety now favors the temporary fix and opening the span ASAP while working on the permanent fix that can be done by December. The 50-50 is whether the ASAP means Labor Day weekend, which is favored only because fewer commuters will be inconvenienced by shutdown over a 3 day weekend.

If a Labor Day weekend shutdown happens, however, it looks really unlikely there will be a party, there isn't enough time to get it together. I'd dig up a link to the Matier and Ross piece that discussed why a party is unlikely, but only those who have paid for access can see it. I haven't paid for access, but being an old man, I still know how to pick up a print newspaper someone left behind while eating lunch.

bknaus

If this happens I'd definitely be interested although I'm having trouble finding and reference to the event that isn't months old. It is neat that they will have a bike path partway over the bridge now so you could do some of this ride later if you want to avoid the unwashed masses. Hopefully they extend it the whole way from Oakland to SF...

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...dge-bike-path/

blt

The party isn't happening Labor Day weekend, there are still discussing a "party" happening sometime later in the year, but I don't know why they'd want the disruption of an additional closure of the bridge just to have a party. We'll see.

They have said that if too many people get on the pedestrian/bike path, they will limit the numbers who can get on, so "they" suggest waiting until a week after opening, but "they" are often wrong about anticipated crowds.

DiabloScott

Well the Bridge opened on Monday and today I drove over it both ways. There were a lot of people on the ped/bike section - mostly just for the experience I guess... taking photos of the old bridge, just ambling. I still want to do it pretty soon before the shine wears off.

Oh, this is kind of funny - the new bridge is far enough away from the old bridge that my GPS got confused and actually thought I was on Treasure Island - told me to "turn right on Navy Avenue" or something like that.

ricebowl

Not worth the BART ride just to end up back in oakland

prathmann

Our club had a ride to the new span and partial path yesterday. We started in Walnut Creek (Heather Farm) rode up through Moraga and then over Pinehurst to Skyline and down through Montclair to Oakland and onto the new path. It's a nice path on the new bridge with paint markings for three lanes: eastward bikes, westward bikes, and pedestrians. There are a few spots with benches along the path for sightseeing. Interesting to see the old bridge which is already partially dismantled.

I recorded my route (starting in San Ramon and taking BART back from Oakland to Dublin) and some pictures of the ride at:
https://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2302167
Our group also appeared on the 8 o'clock news on KRON-4 (I didn't realize we were being videoed at the time).

bknaus

Looks like a fun ride prathmann, I may use that next time I'm home visiting the parents in Walnut Creek. I've seen the bridge slowly come together and now I can't wait to go on it!