i was on -- ken bastida on yerba buena island. i was on treasure island. i think they will stay anchored for the long holiday weekend and watch the activity. >> i was on the san mateo bridge for a long time. liza battalones is going to fill us in on traffic now. quite the scenic route. >> reporter: yes. all you saw was red brake lights lots of cars. that's the scene right now with so many drivers trying to find their way home. chopper 5 has been up and out cruising the skies over the san mateo bridge. that has been one of the worst commutes we have seen in a very long time. still bumper to bumper traffic for south 101 leaving 380. stays slow to highway the 2. 280 continues to be a good option if you need to leave san francisco for the south bay. dumbarton bridge also looking good as an alternative to the bay bridge closure. now, the golden gate commute in marin county has been socked in with traffic. north 101 getting towards the golden gate still bumper to bumper from the marina district. you can see that slow traffic just a few minutes ago. 101 very slow

this time lapse video recorded tonight from our camera on yurba buena island as crew put finishing touch on the eastern span of the bay bridge. >> scene of demolition and construction as cal-trans and contractors work to beat the clock to get the span ready by tuesday or perhaps sooner. good evening. i'm in for dan. >> i'm carolyn johnson. there was grid lock it this but also signs that people had planned ahead. >> take a look at the san mateo bridge on the left jam packed during the evening commute and on the right live picture of traffic moving along is inly rate now. >> another option for getting out of the city was the golden gate bridge. it was crowded today but new moving at the limit and going well. >> we are at the toll plaza with the work happening now. >> impressive to see how quickly this is all coming together. as you can see the road surface here at the toll plaza stripped and these crews are laying down new asphalt. working their way toward the toll booth. cal-trans says it won't be long before you are driving over a fresh surface and across the new bridge. thinks your driv

this time lapse video recorded tonight from our camera on yurba buena island as crew put finishing touch on the eastern span of the bay bridge. >> scene of demolition and construction as cal-trans and contractors work to beat the clock to get the span ready by tuesday or perhaps sooner. good evening. i'm in for dan. >> i'm carolyn johnson. there was grid lock it this but also signs that people had planned ahead. >> take a look at the san mateo bridge on the left jam packed during the evening commute and on the right live picture of traffic moving along is inly rate now. >> another option for getting out of the city was the golden gate bridge. it was crowded today but new moving at the limit and going well. >> we are at the toll plaza with the work happening now. >> impressive to see how quickly this is all coming together. as you can see the road surface here at the toll plaza stripped and these crews are laying down new asphalt. working their way toward the toll booth. cal-trans says it won't be long before you are driving over a fresh surface and across the new bridge. thinks your driv

also built to last longer and grooved to reduce vibration on the bridge. >> exist yurba buena island could be tricky. on ramp and very little room to merge. drivers have to stop and take off into the lane. but as you you come out of the tunnel heading natural east bay you won't be under the lower deck for long. old captain leave came is gone. new tower will be waiting for you. >> this fame project is carefully orchestrated right down to the minute but just in case there is a problem they built in slow time that the schedule and so far they haven't had to use any of it. cal-trans optimistic they will beat the deadline tuesday at 5:00 a.m. spoke live in the toll plaza if oakland, allen, abc 7 news. >> good to hear thank you allen. >> this evening drive home was grueling for many drivers. watch live on a before c 7 news at 6:00. south on highway 101 on the about instant la. 10:00 o'clock san mateo bridge east bay during abc 7 news this evening. it took our engineer behind the wheel 30 minutes to get from one end of the bridge to the other. 7 morning fuss traffic anchor says we can expec

work during the bridge closures involves completion of the road surface at yerba buena island islandnd grinding and striping of the new roadway. >> good news as we look at the oakland maze along i-80's toward 580. the drive is looking heavier but 14 minutes gets you from highway 4 to the maze. >> east san jose, police say a robbery suspect is in the hospital after he was shot by police. police say the suspect tried to run over the officer and the officer opened fire. >> san jose police arrested a substitute teacher after detectives say they found child pornography on the home commuter. he has, worked in the school district since 2006 and the district believes that no students are potential victims. >> five, the bill to make limousines safer face as big vote today after five women died when a limousine burst into flames on the san mateo bridge in may. the bill calls for tougher safety standards and requires all limousines to carry two fire extinguishers. >> fire crews report they are making progress against the rim fire. the forecast calls for higher temperatures that could make it ha

i'm back live on yerba buena island. the countdown continues. we love clocks. there's the countdown. it's continuing until the new debut of the new bay bridge. we are 4.5 days away from the debut. if you are planning to go to treasure island this weekend for last-minute pictures, forget about it. at this point only those who live and work there are allowed access. you need a permit. business owners we talked to earlier said it's been pretty slow as you can imagine. some people had weddings planned for this weekend and have had to make special arrangements to accommodate their guests. there's all kinds of events going on in the bay area this weekend while the bridge is closed. okay, cal is playing northwestern. that's the season opener on saturday. wahoo! says chelsea. the oakland a's have a huge home stand against the rays all weekend and then take on the rangers monday. it's also oakland pride sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and if you are finding yourself going over the golden gate, keep in mind that the sausalito art festival starts saturday runs through monda

now, the work is going nonstop and this video from yerba buena island shows crews putting finishing touches as caltran and the workers try to beat the clock and only a small chance that would happen. >> caltran workers do not usually move that fast? >> they always do. one labor, westbound, and it is causing quite the jam up there as you make it along 500 and then you will see top speeds so it will look clear. the drive time traffic across the rest of the bay, tracy to dublin on 580 westbound, 24 minutes and highway 4 from antioch to concord is 15 minutes from san rafael to san francisco is under 20 minutes so you will be in good shape. walnut creek, 680, southbound, away from highway 4, you can see the tail lights making it over to the junction with highway 24. today. it took half an hour longer to get home yesterday, half an hour longer. almost took bart. live doppler 7 hd shows it is quiet and the clouds are not so wide spread but we have enough thickness for drizzle. temperatures are running in the mid-to-upper 50's in the north bay valleys and along the coast and the rest of us are in t

when it opens, it will open just short of yerba buena island. molish the original east span near the tunnel to make room to connect the path to the island. but even before it's finished, it is going to make for quite a ride. >> a 2% grade all the way out and all the way back, and you're going to get some really great views of the original east span which people haven't had before but also of the bay. >> reporter: now, this is the path cyclists will be able to take once the bike path is ready. emeryville to yerba buena island. caltrans is not giving an exact date as to when that will happen. back to the closure tonight of those three right toll plaza lanes, that actually doesn't have anything to do with the new bay bridge. that's all about the automation of the toll collection system which they are already doing on eight other bay area bridges. back to you. >>> speaking of the bay bridge, let's go out live to take a check of the toll plaza. [overlapping speakers] >> here it is. you can see it. it took a while for lanes to finally fill in. but they

the connection to treasure and yurba buena island take another year to complete but over the 5 day labor day weekend closure these temporary wooden segment will connect the path on the oakland side from emeryville to the bridge. allowing cyclist and pedestrians to get up on the bridge and over the bay like never before. in this cal-trans animation the path is

. >> we start with a look at the yerba buena island camera, and you can see no traffic moving on the old span. on the left side the bright shiny side is the new eastern span with no track but hopefully there will be this five days. we have coverage of the closure beginning with leyla gulen in the traffic center. leyla gulen? >>guest: it looks like traffic is building as are the accidents. we will take you over the altamont pass where we have a motorcycle crash that has blocked one lane and this is at grant line road and we are looking at slow conditions from tracy and toward livermore. it is slow until dublin/pleasanton and opens up and become up at 238 so the traffic toward the san mateo bridge is getting busy and speaking of which we have this brand new accident blocking one lane at the tolls at the spay yes bridge and you have bumper-to-bumper traffic easing up slightly but we have slower commute. outside, i will show you the maze and as you can see the traffic is building as you make it out of berkeley to 580 making a push toward the nimitz. mike? >>guest: good morning, everyone,

some people lucky enough to call treasure island, yerba buena island home. eanno is out here with me on the island with tonight's weather as the fog moves in. >> reporter: tell you what allen, it's a windy treasure island. you know, that's the big change from the norm. they had to take elements in mind when they designed this thing. the roadbed stretches a couple of miles and it is very thin almost like an airplane wing. as a matter of fact, engineers describe it as such. so what they have to do is they installed these things called wind vortex shutters under the roadbed. what that does it breaks up the wind and doesn't allow it to get in sync with the bridge because if that happens, the bridges have a history of moving up and down a little bit and if you're an engineer building a bridge you don't want that up and down. so wind vortex shutters under the road bridge to keep it secure. dublin right now sunshine warm 80s inland. tonight oakland down to 60 san jose down to 62. santa rosa dropping down to 56. let's take a look at our satellite review. there is sti

machinery is tearing out concrete and paving is under way at both the toll plaza and at the yerba buena island transition. >> that's what's going to get cars onto the bridge. that's why we built the new east span. >> reporter: but while work is going on to connect the new span to the traffic lanes, work is also under way to remove the old cantilever section of the bridge which now sits eerily empty. environmental concerns mean it capital just be imploded and allowed to drop into the bay so engineers are going to slowly take it apart piece by piece. crews will even be building some new support structures in the process. >> right now, this is a highly strong and stressed system. and when we start deconstructing it we are going to start taking members down from this system and the first member we take out and all of a sudden the system isn't there anymore. >> reporter: sophisticated computer modeling has now been completed on the old bridge, which is far different now than it was when it first opened in 1936. at that time, the lower deck carried only trucks and streetcars. so engineers want to ma

the new span needs to be connected to land on the oakland side and the yerba buena island tunnel.llenging roth is demolition of the old westbound upper deck so the bicycle math can be connected between land and bridge. birds are nesting on the old bridge so boxes were,000 on the new span. >> we put the platforms to try and entice the birds over to make their home under the new bridge. >> when it is done driving the new bridge will be a much different experience from what you are accustomed to, the eastbound and westbound decks are side-by-side rather than stacked and the driving expense is were more open from the cantilever cage and there are two miles worth of rail to guide you while the old bridge is still standing. >> our coverage now takes us to san francisco and our reporter is monitoring bart service. >> i talked with a couple of commuters and many say they did leave early to avoid the crowd and a man said he left an hour usually and get here to san francisco with no trouble at all so that could be the big tip this morning getting on the train now to come to san francisco an

contractors building the new span will realign lanes on the oakland side and yorba buena island with the new bridge. b.a.r.t. will run 24/7 to help out. ferries increase their service as well. there's a winery on treasure island that's hosting three weddings during the closure. guests have to get a pass from caltrans to drive in or shuttled in from the san francisco side. what a spokesperson told us about the most likely scenario for the opening. >> the bridge will open when it's ready and right now the schedule is showing 5:00 a.m. on tuesday. >> reporter: okay. when the new $6.4 billion span does reopen, the first cars to cross will be a chp motorcade followed by a procession of old cars that were built around the time of the opening of 0 the original bridge in 1936. for more ways how to get around, look at nbcbayarea.com. we've got all of your options there. mike, back to you. >> thank you. beautiful view behind us. at the last of the views we'll take like this. full screen, let's me explain, we'll get this angle from our camera. you see taillights traveling over from left to right

the walkway will eventually run from oakland to yerba buena island, but will only partially open in september. the old bridge needs to be removed before the walkway can be linked to the island. the new span will also feature an entirely new lighting scheme. there will be 48 thousand led lights mounted on more than 1500 fixtures. the lights will provide even lighting across the roadway and are designed to be almost invisible to oncoming traffic. there will also be new lighting inside the tunnel on yerba buena island. continuing our coverage on bridge. william ibbs is a civil engineering professor at u- c berkeley. he is concerned about taking down the existing span. >> once we opened a new bridge caltrans attention will be largely focused on the new bridge and make this will be cut back on the old span bridge appeared >> that presents problems that we will have to deal with and if we delay the demolition of the existing bridge and cut back on maintenance on it than the risk increase for things to happen on the old bit bridge. >> if something happens to be old span that it caused a lot of safet

ken bastida is high above it all on yerba buena island.spectacular when there's no fog out there. >> yeah, man, i tell you what, they could not have picked a better week, allen to conduct this project. we just saw something kind of interesting. it looked like a chp escort including several motorcycles and several chp cruisers with some vip. so somebody just took a ride across the bridge in the wrong direction on the upper deck. track that down and figure out what that was all about. the work continues here. there's good progress being made. and kpix 5's mark kelly is over on treasure island. now, mark, i know you got a really good look at what's going on. >> reporter: ken, there was a press conference late this afternoon to give us the very latest of what's going on as far as the construction there over the holiday weekend. they say that they are still on track as far as the tunnel. they are done paving. they still have some work ahead there. they have to switch out the lights, they have to then wash the tunnel. and as far as the toll plaz

and here is a video from our yerba buena island sped up 10,000 percent to show all of the activity on the bridge to morning. you can see workers and machinery and a lot of activity. >> bart is a popular alternate to commuter whose use the bridge. this morning, we saw people crammed in the trains from oakland to san francisco. katie marzullo joins us from powell street station in san francisco. >> i know firsthand and from twitter that everyone is going to have a different story of their commute this morning and i road bart myself and i saw everything from wide open trains headed east and plenty of seating but very little room. >> bart went from this, to this, to avoid the crush some started before the sun came up. >> maybe my regular train might be more packed but the train i came on, the early train was all right. >> in west oakland they were ready for worst case scenario especially those on bicycles. >> it will be crowded. i have to be patient. wait for an empty train. >> another bicyclist had to do that. wait. >> i had to watch a few trains go by that were completely packed. no big

there will also be new lighting inside the tunnel on yerba buena island. this will be opening on september 3rd. charles clifford, kron 4 news. >> pam: continuing our coverage on the new span of the bay bridge. william ibbs is a civil engineering professor at u-c berkeley. he weighs in on the concerns he has. on taking down the existing span. >> once we opened the new bridge caltran attention is going to be largely focused on the new bridge in the maintenance on the existing span. with that it could potentially present problems. the delay of the demolition of the existing bridge if we cut back too much on the old bridge. of course, we risk problems. with an earthquake, or even stronger could segregate the structure and that would have terrible consequences and more mentally. and in terms of an ornamental-- environmental"port of oakland" and again. cal-trans will shut down the bridge starting at eight p-m on thursday august 28-- it will reopen at five a-m on september 3rd. >> pam: a dramatic rescue at pigeon point in pescadero. a 19-year-old man is suffering

at yerba buena island tunnel the road surface is finished and a lower deck is half done. it will improve traction in wet conditions and will last longer. things are going well and everything is on schedule and they anticipate opening up by the deadline on tuesday at 5:00 a.m. they hope to re-open the bridge then. >> bart is reporting an increase in ridership so that means packed trains. abc7 news reporter katie marzullo continues our coverage from san francisco. katie? >> good morning, eric. most people at embarcadero bart and people on twitter believe this will enfewer commuters because it is friday of a holiday weekend. the answer is yes and no, riders are saying the trains are full, more full than they would expect, down to the last seat where commuters are used to having the police to themselves. we are headed into standing room only territory. >> we have a lot of carrying capacity on the shoulders of the rush hour so 7:00 to 8:00 or 9:00 to 10:00 if you can be flexible in the commute, you will find much more room. >> i took the early train, very early, usually it is

today crew also start paving the westbound lanes from yerba buena island to the eastern span.pect extra crowds today on b.a.r.t., ferries and other bridges during the morning commute. >>> u.n. chemical experts in syria turned back quickly today after heading out on their final day investigating alleged chemical weapons use. it's not clear why they turned back. the u.s. has not decided whether or not to take military action, but a new poll suggests americans don't like the idea. we'll have the latest numbers coming up in a live report at 6:30. >> 6:15 right now. the sole surviving member of a hot shot team over come by flames in an arizona fire is talking about the tragedy. it was two months ago that 19 firefighters were killed in the yarnell wildfire. brandon mcdonough was serving as a lookout when the flames forced him to retreat. he says he thinks of good memories with his team, but it still hurts. >> even from the first day i just told myself, if i sit here and think what if, it's going to eat me alive. it was a hard struggle at first, but really quickly i was able to trans

. >> reporter: and the tunnel on yerba buena island getting a face-lift of sorts. paving on the top deck is done. work on the bottom deck continues into the weekend followed by striping. and when it's all done, no more dreaded "s" curve for any drivers. >> here it's pretty much a straight shot into the tunnel and a straight shot coming out. so they will be able to continue driving at 50 miles per hour. >> reporter: as for when the public will see all this hard work and get on the new bridge, officials are still playing it safe. >> process is good. but it's a little too soon to start making predictions about opening early. progress is good. >> reporter: talking big picture, they are overall moving from the demolition into the paving phase this weekend because they are heading towards the 5 a.m. opening on tuesday morning. >> yeah, hope maybe even a little sooner than that. mark kelly reporting for us on that. thank you, mark. you know, all the talk has been about the new eastern span and it's gorgeous in the afternoon sunshine. but a lot of work is being done on the

city through the treasure island authority and the san francisco transportation authority yerba buena island ramps for a total of $81,700,000. >> thank you. mr. beck. >> thank you supervisor farrell, members of the committee. we have before you two memorandum of agreements between the transportation authority and tida and the city and county of san francisco for services to reconstruct the westbound on rampos the east side of yerba buena island. the first is for right-of-way services to accept from transfer from the navy through us through tida the property which the rachs are constructed and after that transfer the properties to caltrans. the second is for the construction much the ramps itself and i have a powerpoint and we have the transportation authority also here. i would point out that the transportation authority board yesterday did approve these moa's on behalf of the transportation authority. [inaudible] between tida and transportation authority and the ramps project we're going to construct and i will take any questions you may have. tida and mta entered into a agreement and there

here it is 50 miles an hour all the way across. >> now, at the entrance to the yorba buena island tunnel, they are using this as a chance to get a lot of maintenance work done and maintenance work also going on on the west side as well. they are doing things like changing out lights, they are power washing the front of t they tell me that the paving work there on the upper deck is complete. they want the lower deck paving area to be done today. and again, the whole project, they say, still on time. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> that is great news for commuters. christie, thanks so much. >>> another busy morning for b.a.r.t. but not quite as busy as yesterday. we have new news our newsroom from the agency. spokesman jim allison telling us yesterday was one of the busiest days in the history of b.a.r.t. >> thursday was b.a.r.t.'s third busiest day ever. we had 475,015 riders. so, that beat the old number by about 30,000. and the only two busier days we had were the two giants world series victory parades. >> too early for exact numbers for this morning's

here's a lack from our yurba buena island camera. construction crew working right here on where the new span meets the tunnel. scraping grading the roadway there. heather got a firsthand look at the work at the other end of the new bridge on the western span. >> work readying the new eastern span for traffic is moving along well but too soon to say. if it might open earl early. >> folk heading out of town for the labor day weekend still plan the travel based on 5 a.m. opening. don't want people with opening date not confirmed and no other date and time throughout yet. right now we are still saying 5:00 a.m. tuesday morning. >> monumental bridge needs monumental maintenance. cal-trans is making the motor of the bridge closure to work on the old but the span of the bay bridge only one lane of active traffic for treasure island resident aof sunshine workers can accomplish in 4 day what is would normally take 4 months. >> that include bridge paintin painting. includes replacing of a light. that includes drain clearing and graffiti remova

. >> i'm ken bastida live on yerba buena island and what a day it has been for commuters for people rightingnstruction guys on the bridge, as work continues, construction on schedule as far as we know. and i can tell you that they have been busy down there all day long. kpix 5's mark sayre has been keeping an eye on the construction progress. and mark, it already looks like i can see a few changes up here. the k-rails are down for one thing. >> reporter: indeed. you don't have to guess about the progress. we did get an official caltrans briefing just about an hour ago and they said, ken, indeed, everything is on schedule. just 24 hours ago, it was carrying 270,000 cars, trucks and buses across the bay. but now, heavy machinery is tearing out concrete and paving is under way at both the toll plaza and at the yerba buena island transition. >> that's what's going to get cars onto the bridge. that's why we built the new east span. >> reporter: but while work is going on to connect the new span to the traffic lanes, work is also under way to remove the old cantilever section of the bridge which n

. >> reporter: on yerba buena island, what looks like oversized ikea furniture is being hoisted up on to the new deck where it gets trucked across the bridge to oakland. it's all going up here because that's where they had room to build 270,000 pounds of bike ramp. >> the modules are made of douglas firs. >> reporter: once it opens you go from east bay soil on to the new bay bridge giving cyclists and pedestrians a path all the way across the new span stopping just short of yerba buena island. at least for now. >> after traffic has been moved on to the new eastern span, they will start to demolish the original east span near the tunnel freeing up the room to connect the bike path into the island. >> reporter: and while the path will remain incomplete for some time, it will still offer a brand-new ride with a view you have never seen before. >> a 2% grade all the way out and all the way back, and you're going to get some really great views of the original east span, which people haven't had before, but also of the bay. >> reporter: what i want to show you, allen and liz, is that orange

. >> i'm ken bastida live on yerba buena island.noon, again, to give you a good look at the progress on the new eastern span of the bay bridge. there is progress to report today. a lot has been going on while you slept and worked and probably on your way to a great weekend. these guys will go 24 hours around the clock until they open ton tuesday morning. a bit of a smoky scene earlier this afternoon just below where we were standing. turned out to be nothing to worry about. we're told there's some clean- up work going on at the yerba buena island tunnel. and that includes some sandblasting and some power washing. access of course to the new bridge very tightly controlled over the past 48 hours. but we are able to give you a quick look at what is going on. and there's a lot going on. a chp patrol car actually led the way on to the new eastern span of the bay bridge just before the tunnel. we actually headed east but in the newest bound lanes weaving through a fleet of construction trucks. we sped up the tape there for you but you get

let's give you the live look again from yerba buena island looking out.g fairly smoothly along the s-curve. looking to the right, you can see the portion there will be transitioning traffic onto. that will be the focus of a great deal of work. if you take a look you can see where the lane striping is coming to an end, and they will have to be doing some paving work and in the last ten minutes, i got off with the phone with caltrans. the spokesman tells me right now crews are working on final touches before the closure. he says there are no major projects they are working on today, just getting prepped for this five-day construction marathon. we have video of the 77-year- old span. the last morning commute across this section of the bridge. we drove the bridge ourself and it was smooth sailing at 5:15 this morning. the bridge will be shut down as crews work on the final tusms. crews will get to work demolishing the old eastern span and detaching the s-curve from yerba buena island. some drivers say they are already planning on how to handle this big bridge

and near yerba buena island they will be paving and striking to guide drivers off of the new roadway which the national highway traffic safety administration and two independent panels said yesterday is much safer than the old. >> the existing bridge is the one folks ought to be worried about, and that's the one they shouldn't go trusting. >> reporter: the new span is $5 billion over budget and 10 years late. but the end is in sight. we'll tell you what drivers think coming up in the next half hour. live on treasure island, anne makovec, kpix 5. >> bart plans to offer limited round the clock service from wednesday august 28 through labor day morning. in the next few days bart will announce more details including which stations will be open 24 hours. the golden gate and san francisco bay ferries will also add service. >>> new this morning, a shooting in east oakland killed one woman and injured a man just after 11:30 last night. oakland police called to 100th avenue and pyramid street. they found a woman dead at the scene. a man taken to the hospital. so far police don't have any susp

contractors build the replacement eastern span work to also realign lanes in oakland and yorba buena island with the new span. after 32 steel rods snapped, new parts doing well, though. of course, the project moving along. something to remember, though, on treasure island, places like winery, hosting three weddings during the closure. guests will receive passes to drive in from the city side or shuttled in. residents and businesses get the same access, again, from san francisco. b.a.r.t. will have 24-hour service stopping at certain stations. ferries also boost their service to help people get around. the bridge will open 5:00 a.m. tuesday earliest, though, will be monday evening. when the bridge opens the first cars across will be chp motorcade followed by a procession of old cars built around the opening of the original bay bridge in 1936. keep in mind, it's not just the bridge itself but 15 access ramps in and around san francisco will also be closed as well. also, 2500 trucks involved moving asphalt from the east bay near pleasanton to the east side. keep your patience. the bridge, it's

over labor day so caltrans could move a 200 foot section of roadway into place just east of yerba buena island. in 2009, there was another full closure over labor day as caltrans finished work on the s-curve detour along the eastern span. then in 2011, the eastbound lanes were closed over memorial day weekend so those lanes could be re- aligned near the toll plaza. the last major planned closure of the bridge was over president's day weekend in 2012 when the west bound lanes were realigned to make room for work on the new span. tonight police in walnut creek need your help in catching the four people who burglarized the tiffany's store downtown. just hours ago we received this new surveillance photo from police. they say shows a the vehicle used to flee the scene of the heist. apparently a white chevy blazer. this picture taken just 90 seconds before police arrived on the scene. kron 4's j.r. stone is following the story and joins us live from walnut creek. not a good day on wall street. the dow dropped 225 points today.that's the biggest drop in almost two months. u-s stocks were dragged down

completion of the road surface at yurba buena island and grinding paving striping and that's about it. >> work is progressing very well. we have not had any hiccup or hitches. >> 1,000 foot section of the old westbound approach to the bridge is well on its which to being gone. crew on that demolition job are starting on the bridge and working back toward oakland. this section has to go to make room to connect the new pedestrian and beek path that runs along the outer edge of the eastbound deck scheduled to open tuesday at noon. >> at the tunnel the new road surface is being prepared by this morning the upper deck was finished and lower deck was more than half done. paving will complete tomorrow on temporary on ramp from the island followed by lane striping. in fact grinding paving and striping is a big part of what is happening over the closure. 1.2 million square feet of asphalt ground or torn up and 14,000 tops of asphalt brought in to pave. asphalt truck coming from pleasanton special privileges on 5 80. >> during the morning commute hours they use 5 80. truck ban is still in effec

let's take a look now at a live picture from yerba buena island camera.it's hard to tell from this distance, right? trust me they're working. abc 7 news is there live near the bay bridge toll plaza. heather? >> i am here at the edge of a sea of fresh asphalt. that is what they're getting ready to do here. caltrans says everything is on schedule but they're concern forward people leaving for the weekend to still plan their return based on that 5:00 a.m. tuesday opening time. oh, the truck going too stop an french us. they're starting to lane stripe here. while the bridge is closed, readying the new span, there is a western span also that is getting a needed dose of maintenance. they took us up there today to take a look. a monument bridge is getting monumental maintenance. with only one lane of active traffic for treasure island residents and plin, workers can accomplish in four days what would take four months. >> that includes bridge paving and replacing lights. that includes drain clearing. that includes paving work we have to do. figure removeal. >> th

at yerba buena island tunnel new road surface being prepared by this morning, the upper deck finished and lower more than half done. paving will complete tomorrow on a temporary onramp from the island"w$rq grinding, paving and striping is a big problem, 1.2 major square feet and only 14,000 tons will be brought in to pay. >> last update is that everything is looking really good. we've got great weather. so we're confident how things are going so far. >> there are 400 workers on the bridge working in shifts 24 hours per day aiming for the scheduled tuesday 5:00 a.m. opening. >> a lot of people here are putting in very long hours. everyone, including contractors are abiding by worker safety laws. >> so this grinding here started immediately after the closure last night grinding is what it sounds like, it's tearing up asphalt about two inches here, they're repaving árv a good new road service there is grinding and paving froird a new system. but the grinding is supposed to be expected to be finished soon with paving here starting tonight. live at the toll plaza, abc 7 news., / >> thank

get down out here was work on smoothing out the connection from the deck to the tunnel on yerba buena island. >> we'll finish the work today on the top deck with a joint seal that we have to install later today. on the lower deck, we prepped it. that crew will move down onto the lower deck and finish that work. >> reporter: talk about a team effort. an estimated 400 people working out here to get the new span open by 5:00 tuesday morning. live here at the toll plaza, mike mibach, ktvu channel 2 news. >> this is the first evening commute since the bridge closed and thousands are going around it tonight to get home. >> the chp told us that the average commute today actually only increased by 10 minutes. sal castaneda is following conditions. sal, do you agree with that figure? >> reporter: no, not really, unfortunately. first of all, drivers are going a longer distance, because they're going around. send of all, the commutes on those bridges, the san mateo bridge, for example, has been heavier. more people are on the bridge. and it's made it a lot more -- well, just a lot slower. newschopper 2

. >> reporter: on yerba buena island, what looks like oversized ikea furniture is being hoisted up onthe new deck where it gets trucked across the bridge to oakland. it's all going up here because that's where they had room to build 270,000 pounds of bike ramp. >> the modules are made of douglas firs. >> reporter: once it opens you go from east bay soil on to the new bay bridge giving cyclists and pedestrians a path all the way across the new span stopping just short of yerba buena island. at least for now. >> after traffic has been moved on to the new eastern span, they will start to demolish the original east span near the tunnel freeing up the room to connect the bike path into the island. >> reporter: and while the path will remain incomplete for some time, it will still offer a brand-new ride with a view you have never seen before. >> a 2% grade all the way out and all the way back, and you're going to get some really great views of the original east span, which people haven't had before, but also of the bay. >> reporter: so eventually the bike path will be on the concrete wing y

today will start paving the westbound lanes from your ba buena island. the new span is expected to open by 5:00 a.m. on tuesday. "today in the bay's" christie smith joins us live near the toll plaza with the daunting task where they're taking apart the old bridge. >> reporter: happy friday. this is day two of a 24-hour operation to try and get the new eastern span ready. i want to step aside so you can see a little bit of the work going on here this morning. it was quiet until maybe the last five or ten minutes ago. then we started seeing the heavy equipment moving again. one of the critical parts in all this is of course the toll plaza, removing the asphalt, grinding and doing the repaving. we got a closer look, though, at some of the work going on yesterday including the deconstruction of the original westbound approach to the bay bridge to make way for the bike path connector and putting in a protective polyester layer over the area near yurba buena tunnel. tearing the old bridge apart will be no easy task. the half-mile long cantilever is made up of

. >>> a bypass among the new span will be 2 miles long between oakland and yerba buena island.een the roadway is designed to pull exhaust away from people. look at 'em. living on cloud nine with that u-verse wireless receiver. you see in my day, when my mom was repainting the house, you couldn't just set up a tv in the basement. i mean, come on! nope. we could only watch tv in the rooms that had a tv outlet. yeah if we wanted to watch tv someplace else, we'd have to go to my aunt sally's. have you ever sat on a plastic covered couch? [ kids cheering ] you're missing a good game over here. those kids wouldn't have lasted one day in our shoes. [ male announcer ] add a wireless receiver. call to get u-verse tv for just $19 a month with qualifying bundles. rethink possible. west. tonight, it's all gon. wayne start the clock... >>> endless summer if you're the giants. last monday, the a's had a 6-game lead over the rangers. tonight it's gone! the reeling too. bartolo colon had thrown 15 quality starts. nothing quality about this start. he allowed 5 runs in 2 and two third, the short

bay bridge closure day to and crews are work around the clock and here is a look from the yerba buena island camera where you can see the construction is underway. caltran says paving portions of the new span is going well and he is work from overnight with crews pouring asphalt and smoothing the road. we go to the toll plaza on how the project is moving along. matt? >> we are 39 hours into the closing and you can see a lot of progress here at the bridge. according to caltran, everything is going according to plan. >> there is no staying in your line, driving on the bay bridge today. that is because there are still no lanes. our exclusive ride in the c.h.p. patrol car gave us a view of what you can expect when you hit the judge. c.h.p. for hill was impressed. >> the beauty of being on patrol is we get access to the roadways prior to anyone else so you are not the first public vehicle on there but the first vehicles to traverse the bay bridge. >> paving is about complete to the toll plaza. later today and tomorrow comes the striping. >> everything is going kuwait -- quite well. >> a big chunk

live at yerba buena island, i'm sue kwon, kpix 5. >> with the bay bridge closed, the golden gate bridge will be a lot more congested. bridge workers are reminding drivers who may not be used to the golden gate's all- electronic tolls, drivers should just not stop at the bridge because there are no longer the toll collectors. you can pay at a kiosk or just get a bill in the mail in about 2 weeks. >>> authorities say the hundreds of replacement bolts on the new bay bridge are working. the bolts came into question when 32 similar ones snapped back in may. for the last couple of weeks, engineers having putting new bolts under a strength test. one snapped but it was supposed to. >> we took them to the highest possible level of tension that they could be under and that is a higher level than any of the bolts are at on the bridge. >> authorities still plan on doing several more months of testing. >>> 6:09. police believe at robbery at gunpoint in pleasanton is connected to a victim's winning night at a bay area casino. a couple was robbed add their home on roselma place yesterday. the husband

right now live on yerba buena island, anne makovec, kpix 5. >>> you may be wondering who is going to be the last person to cross the old span. bob faber in his 1936 model a hand-picked to do the job. that car was one of the first to cross the old bridge in 1936 when it opened up. bob will be back in the same car driving across the new span when it opens. to help you get around when the bridge shuts down over the weekend, we have a survival guide on our website, kpix.com/bridge. >>> new video this morning shows police scrambling at a crime scene in antioch as multiple gunshots ring out. a kpix 5 viewer shot this cell phone video as he watched an officer-involved shooting unfold yesterday afternoon. police say officers shot and killed a man after he pulled a gun and led police on a chase just before 5 p.m. authorities were following the suspect on hillcrest avenue when he lost control of his mercedes and crashed near wildflower drive. that's when a gun battle between the suspect and officers started. no officers were injured. authorities were still investigating on the scene early this

emeryville to yerba buena island and caltrans isn't giving a date as to when that will happen. for now, cyclists will just have to turn back around on the bridge and just head back to oakland. now, back to those lane closures, going into effect tonight, that actually doesn't have anything to do with the new span of the bay bridge. that is part of a project to have automatic toll taking systems on all 8 bay area bridges. and this is the final one to go through that completion. so a lot of changes going on, on the bay bridge. live on treasure island, anne makovec, kpix 5. >> we're just five days away from wednesday's bridge closure and 11 days until the new one opens. until that new span opens, we'll have a commute survival guide at kpix.com/bridge. >>> there's still no deal between bart's union leaders and its management. we are getting word the two sides met yesterday. "the examiner" reports some business leaders are urging the governor now to personally get involved. bart ridership is on the rise though. the transit authority says it has an increase in a three- month period fr

. >> crews need to connect the new crossing to the toll plaza and to the yerba buena island tunnel. phil matier is in oakland with how things are progressing. good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning, michelle. so far, so good. it looks like the final pages of this near 24-year soap opera are going to be good ones. workers are busy yesterday and today putting some 2 to 4" of asphalt in around the toll plaza. plus, dismantling the beginning of the dismantling of that dreaded "s" curve over by yerba buena island for the hookup there. it's been a long torturous journey trying to get there bridge done but so far the weather is cooperating today. and if lawrence karnow can deliver a good weekend forecast, they are hoping that they are going to get this job wrapped up by monday maybe even a little early. but even while they are working on getting this thing completed, they are also taking a look at dismantling the old span and as brian marone of caltrans explains it's not going to be the easiest job, as well. >> right now, this is a highly strong and a stressed system. and when we sta

live on yerba buena island, anne makovec, kpix 5. >> good week for a vacation.u don't, we'll help you around that five-day closure. we have a survival guide at kpix.com/bridge. >>> and in the meantime, we have our own traffic troubles so far this morning along the peninsula. i mention that truck fire blocking a couple of lanes. fire crews trying to put that out on northbound 101 approaching marsh road. now we have a new accident in the backup northbound 101 at willow. we are seeing a lot of delays right now coming through menlo park. yes, this is a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. your last commute across the bay bridge in a while. it closes at 8:00 tonight. your last chance to drive the old incline and the old "s" curve. so far things look good though once you're on the upper deck and a quick look at 101 near trimble, so far moving at the limit in san jose. >> and liz, we have the fog outside this morning, very thick in spots especially in the north bay. visibilities down to about a half a mile there. 50s and some 60s now. but by the afternoon, get a loa

grinding and paving the roadway near the toll plaza and both the lower and upper decks of the yerba buena island's transition. >> that's what's going to get cars onto the bridge. that's why we built the new east span. >> reporter: this is the view from the new bridge at the oakland touchdown near the beginning of the incline. they are also coating the tunnel's concrete with a polyester overlay making it 10 times stronger than before and they have begun installing a new drainage system. at the same time, there's the demolition of the original westbound approach under the bridge out of the toll plaza. >> they are demolishing this section because that is what's in the way of the permanent bike path heading into oakland. >> reporter: this is a view of that demolition work from the new eastern span of the bay bridge. this is just a sampling of some of the demo work that we're going to see on the old span over the next several years. but the work during this closure focuses on this 1,000- foot section because it's simply in the way. >> we're right on track. we've got 90% of the deck knocked loose and we

the bridge at both ends so they can realign interstate 880 with the new bridge as well as yerba buena island. caltrans will be paving, installing rails and striping lines. >> it will be worth the wait. definitely. there's a lot -- there's so much work that needs to be done just to transition over to the new bridge. >> reporter: ferries will be extended service, b.a.r.t. is adding limited overnight trains through sunday night. the new bay bridge is set to open the day after labor day at 5:00 a.m. then it could take up to three years to get rid of the old span. crews will have to dismantle it piece by piece exactly the way it was erected. otherwise it could risk a cats strosk -- catastrophic event. at the bay bridge toll plaza, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> when the new span does open, gavin newsom will be there at the opening ceremony, as the acting governor. that's because governor jerry brown is due to be out of town for a family celebration. staff members say the governor made his travel plans when it appeared the bridge would not be opening on time. >>> now, at ktvu.com, we have

. >> reporter: yerba buena island, rerouting of the lanes is taking place bringing the rains from the tunnel to the -- lanes from the tunnel to the new span. this was the reason for building the s-kur s-curve. a lot of people didn't like that. caltrans says all of the planning is paying off now at this mage major -- paying off now that this major transytion is put in -- transition is put in. we've been monitoring the traffic. the san mateo traffic bridge took a while. right now would be a good time to go. if you have to go around the san mateo bridge or the richmond time, it would be a good time now. it wasn't so pretty. we'll keep that posted. we'll have traffic reports tonight. we also have crews going onto the bridge now and we'll have video from them later on. live in oakland, sal castanedo, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> thanks, sal. well, right now, bridge officials are briefing the media that will begin on the eastern span. crews can't tuesday dynamite to bring them down. it will be torn down piece by piece to avoid a collapse. the s-curve will be the first to go. we have a crew insi

shuts down completely as crews connect the new span to the toll plaza on the east end and yorba buena islandn the west end. good morning, thanks for being with us, i'm marla tellez, jon kelley has the day off. >>> clock is ticking, the bay bridge closure set to begin at 8:00 tonight. as you can see from this countdown clock, we are less than nine hours away from the complete shut down. more on the closure, let's head out to nbc bay area's christie smith live on treasure island. are the crews ready for all this, christie, after all this time? >> reporter: yeah, they are. and good morning to you, marla. if you juaned to take one last nostalgic trip over the bay bridge now a good time because transportation planners say they are expected an accelerated evening commute, people trying to hurry up and get out of san francisco before 8:00 deadline tonight when the final work begins on the new even span. the heavy equipment is lined up to connect with the new $6.4 billion span. they are going to be doing grading and strike and demolition. the five-day closure means commuters can use b.a.r.t., ac tra

. >> reporter: here is a look above that yorba buena island transition, a huge change for drivers.ventually that s-curve will be completely gone, where drivers coming from san francisco will exit and be parallel with the upper deck. no more driving in that cage like we are used to. again, today, grading, demolition and paving all on schedule, but of course, one of the big things that drivers had to deal with all of this is the closure of the bay bridge and all the ramps leading to t more on how that is affecting traffic now, mike inouye. how is it looking out there? >> a lot of folks prepared. we'd lot of time, of course that lead team. a lot of folks made those alternate plans. despite that, we still had some backups, the eastshore freeway. in fact, choppers over the scene, folks jammed up here going westbound 80, north to south on your map, but this is as you're coming through berkeley and heading down toward the berkeley curve. look how jammed it is. the deal, the bottom of your screen, see as they cone off one of the lanes, around powell, folks know the shell gas station, deput