San Francisco motorists encountered snarled traffic Saturday after Caltrans closed the eastbound Interstate 80 Bayshore Freeway between Fourth and 17th streets for repairs.
The $70 million project, which is expected to last through 6 a.m. Monday, sent traffic snaking through surrounding surface streets downtown. As of Saturday evening, the closure had not produced the Carmageddon gridlock that officials had feared.
{ “__type”: “devHubFreeformEmbed”, “__id”: “AIHTML”, “__fallbackImage”: “https://files.sfchronicle.com/embed-bot/2026/carmageddon0415/carmageddon0415-fallback.png”, “__data”: { “html_url”: “https://files.sfchronicle.com/embed-bot/2026/carmageddon0415/carmageddon0415.html” } }
“This is a major closure on a weekend so Caltrans is urging the public to use public transportation and if they need to use their cars, they can use our detours,” said Lori Shepherd, a Caltrans spokesperson. The detours are posted online.
A putrid odor rose from the new pavement as the sun baked the roadway Saturday morning. Traffic trying to head toward the Bay Bridge, which remained open, was redirected to Highway 101 north as workers in white hard hats choked the roadway with trucks and orange cones…