Richmond-San Rafael Bridge reopens after lengthy shutdown for repairs

The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was open Tuesday morning after a lengthy shutdown Monday for emergency repairs.

Caltrans said crews were able to fix the issue and reopen the bridge late Monday night. The issue was crumbling concrete on the upper deck of the bridge that was found during Monday’s commute. Caltrans was quick to close almost all lanes for the emergency repairs.

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The discovery of "unsound, spalling deck concrete" on the upper deck of the bridge prompted authorities to close one lane in the westbound (upper deck) direction and two lanes in the eastbound (lower deck) direction, Caltrans said.

"Plan for extended commute and please use alternate routes," the CHP said Monday in a post on X.

Caltrans wanted to make it clear to drivers they have nothing to worry about.

“The bridge is definitely structurally safe,” said Bart Ney with Caltrans. “There was a major seismic retro fit done to all of our large scale toll bridges in the 90’s and the early 2000’s and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was one of the ones that benefitted from that.”

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Caltrans said the bridge that connects the east and north bays gets inspected every two years, which is federally mandated, on top of the department’s regular runs across the bridge with their maintenance teams.

Cal trans maintains more than 13,000 bridges and says the damage, called spalling, is part of the wear and tear of a 70-year-old bridge.

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NBC Bay Area's Gia Vang contributed to the report.