Work to Repair Crumbling Asphalt on Golden Gate Bridge Snarls Traffic

Golden Gate Bridge officials shut down two lanes of southbound traffic Tuesday morning to fix a fresh coat of asphalt that had crumbled and spread all over the roadway, snarling Hwy. 101 traffic in that direction for much of the morning.

The backup stretched through the Waldo Tunnel during rush hour and all the way down near Marin City by mid-morning.

The repair work is set to continue through 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to transit officials, who urged those heading from the North Bay into San Francisco for the Giants game or evening plans to allow additional travel time.

"We also anticipate increased congestion as people leave San Francisco and travel north," California Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Barclay said.

On Monday night and into early Tuesday morning, bridge crews put a fresh coat of asphalt on the portion of the southbound lanes north of the bridge's north anchorage house. The roadway itself was replaced in 2012 as part of the span's seismic retrofit project.

As commuters started to drove over that stretch Tuesday morning, the asphalt loosened and was strewn about the lanes of the bridge and up onto the sidewalk. Just before 8:30 a.m., the CHP closed two southbound lanes that had been paved.

Until approximately 6 a.m. Wednesday, there will 3 lanes open to traffic traveling northbound on the GGB while southbound traffic will be limited to 2 lanes until after passing the north anchorage, Barclay said. After the north anchorage, southbound traffic will open back up to 3 lanes, he said.