The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge “remains safe and open to the public,” according to Caltrans, despite the closure of eastbound lanes Friday due to another incident of concrete debris falling from the upper deck to the lower deck, KRON4 reported.
Debris “the size of pebbles but one as large as a football” fell at 12:22 p.m., the news agency reported. They didn’t damage cars or hurt anyone, but they forced two eastbound lanes to close for repairs. All lanes reopened just before 4 p.m., KRON-4 reported.
Drivers are well aware that this has happened before. In February, falling concrete debris caused a lengthy closure and terrible traffic backups. Repairs are still ongoing on that.
The timing of this latest incident was also interesting. Earlier this week, Richmond Mayor Tom Butt played his annual April Fool’s trick on readers by claiming in a false story that the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was in such disrepair it was set to close down indefinitely. Many residents were fooled by the report, and some were none too happy with the mayor, or the Standard, for printing the April’s Fool joke.