OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Motorists may experience periodic delays at the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge toll plaza over the next two weeks as Caltrans and the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) make temporary lane changes in order to install a new automated toll collection and accounting system.
Beginning at 7 p.m. on Fri., April 12, the far left lane of the westbound State Route 92 approach to the toll plaza will be closed to accommodate system upgrades in the two carpool toll lanes (toll lanes #1 and #2) at the left side of the toll plaza. Both of these toll lanes, as well as the carpool lane on the approach to the bridge, are expected to resume normal operations by 5 a.m. on Monday, April 15.
The following weekend, April 20-21, the two FasTrak®-only lanes (toll lanes #3 and #4) will be closed for a similar operation. FasTrak customers are advised on these days to stay to the left and use toll lanes #1 and #2.
During weekdays, from April 15 through 19, and from April 22 through 26, one toll lane will be closed each day as workers complete upgrades in the remaining cash/FasTrak lanes (lanes #5 through #10). Weekday closures from April 15 through 19 primarily will affect the mini-plaza (toll lanes #8 through #10) on the right side of the bridge approach, while the weekday closures from April 22 through 26 will involve toll lanes #5 through #7 at the main toll plaza. These lanes also are accessed from the right-most approach lane on State Route 92. Each of the toll lane closures will extend for no more than 48 hours.
Following completion of the equipment installation at the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge toll plaza, contractors working for BATA, in conjunction with Caltrans staff, will be performing similar work in the months ahead at the toll plazas of the Dumbarton Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Workers last month completed the installation of new toll collection equipment at the Carquinez Bridge toll plaza. Similar projects also have been completed at the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez and Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toll plazas.
BATA, which is directed by the same policy board as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), administers toll revenues from the region's state-owned toll bridges. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Caltrans owns, operates and maintains the state highway system, including seven Bay Area toll bridges.
