Carquinez Bridge weekend closure ends as Caltrans repaves westbound deck in Vallejo

After a 50-hour closure, Caltrans believes it has paved a road for transportation success on the Carquinez Bridge.

The Alfred Zampa Memorial was closed westbound starting last Friday at 10 p.m. to allow construction crews to repave the entire westbound bridge deck. Caltrans maintenance crews worked in Vallejo from the foot of the bridge to Highway 780 to complete work-like maintenance, vegetation control, and litter/graffiti cleanup, among other tasks. The project aims to provide a smoother and safer driving surface while extending the service life of this critical I-80 connection.

The pedestrian and bicycle path on the bridge was closed. Eastbound traffic was not affected.

According to Caltrans Public Affairs Chief Bart Ney, the closure ended three hours early at midnight on Monday morning.

“On Sunday afternoon we saw that we were on track to open everything up a little earlier than originally expected at 3 a.m.,” Ney told the Times-Herald on Monday. “This is an operation that had to be done during the day due to the temperatures, and we had to wait for the asphalt to cool down because it was around 300 degrees before it cures. (Asphalt curing is the slow internal process where petroleum-based binders oxidize, harden, and fuse the aggregate together). We put in temporary striping and in a few days we’ll make that striping more permanent.”

Ney said the closure caused traffic delays in the Bay Area, but wasn’t as bad as originally anticipated.

“We saw about a 10 percent reduction in traffic, with 30-minute delays on the 80 freeway and about an hour delay on the 780,” Ney said. “But it was really special to repave this bridge. It’s the only bridge named after a blue-collar worker, and the last repaving was done 23 years ago. So we’re hoping to get another 20 years at least out of this repaving.”

Ney called the project a “real community effort” with the construction crews also providing maintenance and a massive cleanup to areas in South Vallejo.

“Because we closed a few offramps before the bridge, we were able to get rid of a lot of scrubs and graffiti while trimming trees near Magazine Street and Lincoln Road West,” Ney said. “If you visit that area, you’ll see it’s completely changed and looks totally different.”

Before the repaving began, Caltrans also discovered that brass plaques to honor Alfred Zampa had been stolen on each side of the bridge. According to Ney, Caltrans was quickly in talks with the family to remedy the situation. New temporary signage has been put up to honor Zampa while the family decides what to do moving forward.