In order to inspect and monitor the eyebar repair, the California Department of Transportation is planning on closing the far left lane on the westbound upper deck of the Bay Bridge for a few hours daily until November 13th. The lane will be closed from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday. Additional work will be completed during overnight hours on weekends.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin says the closure of the Bay Bridge for six days has resulted in a net  loss of about $1.9 million in revenues on state-owned toll bridges in the Bay  Area. According to Goodwin, the region has lost about $2.4 million in revenue  from the Bay Bridge. But he said part of that amount has been made up by a 36  percent increase in traffic on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, a 25 percent  increase on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and a 10 percent increase on the  Dumbarton Bridge.

A top state official says the Bay Bridge is safe  following six days of repairs, but admits more could have been done to  prevent a mishap last Tuesday that damaged three cars and forced the bridge  to be closed. Speaking to reporters about five hours after the span reopened  about 9 a.m. Monday morning, Dale Bonner, secretary of the state Business,  Transportation and Housing Agency, said, "The Bay Bridge remains safe for the  traveling public."

Traffic is now moving across the Bay Bridge for the first time since an eyebar failure last Tuesday afternoon. CHP officers escorted the first wave of traffic leaving the toll plaza heading into San Francisco.  CHP spokesman Trent Cross says the escort was designed to prevent a free-for-all as the first cars went through.  Officers conducted a final sweep of the bridge to make sure there were no construction materials or tools still in the lanes.

For the fourth weekday in a row, Bay Area commuters will not have access to the Bay Bridge on Monday morning.  Caltrans workers spent much of Sunday making more modifications to the repairs after stress testing late Saturday led to potential metal on metal abrasions. If the latest stress tests are successful, workers will then install dampening materials on the mechanism to make sure it doesn't vibrate.  Ney says it now appears clear the high winds were to blame for last Tuesday's failure which caused debris to come loose and fall on traffic below.

Caltrans workers are back to trying to fix the alignment on repairs on the Bay Bridge after having to abandon efforts to put tension on the rods that will support the fix. Ney says workers detected "a little bit of movement when we were doing the stressing."   He praises the work of Federal, seismic, and academic inspectors who will have to sign off on the work before the bridge is re-opened.

Tensioning work has now begun on the rods making up the repairs on the Bay Bridge.  KRON 4's Reggie Kumar was on the bridge when Caltrans crews shifted the span's weight off of the eyebars and onto the new construction. The move comes after what Caltrans describes as a long night Friday and an even longer day Saturday making adjustments to the repair operation.

A suspected car thief is in custody after leading police on a high speed chase from San Francisco across the closed Bay Bridge to Oakland. Witnesses say the vehicle was stolen at about 10:30 p.m. Friday from Sterling Street in San Francisco.  Police were called and started chasing the SUV which somehow managed to get past barricades and onto the lower deck of the Bay Bridge where Caltrans workers were the only people allowed on the span.

Caltrans workers hope to start putting weight today on four new rods installed to repair the eyebar failure that has kept the Bay Bridge closed since Tuesday evening. Workers spent all night Friday into Saturday trying to perfect the alignment of the repaired system.

BART will offer 24-hour service while the bridge remains closed on Friday and Saturday nights. Trains will run hourly to 14 of the transit agency’s 43 stations during the overnight hours. While BART will run on a normal schedule during the day, officials say trains will be longer where needed, especially on Halloween.