Northbound lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge will be closed from 6 to 9 a.m. Sunday for the San Francisco Marathon in response to concerns about terrorism.
The marathon will use the span for part of the race, in which 15,000 runners are expected to participate.
The unprecedented decision to close the northbound lanes of the span during the marathon was made after recent terrorism events around the world where people have intentionally driven into pedestrians.
The district’s Board of Directors voted last month to take the measure for the safety of runners in the marathon.
“We want to prevent the possibility of vehicles and runners mixing on the roadway,” said bridge spokeswoman Priya Clemens.
Southbound lanes will continue to flow as usual. Runners are protected from southbound vehicles by the span’s steel and concrete moveable median barrier.
Golden Gate Transit vehicles will run north, but be escorted across the bridge. Emergency vehicles also will be escorted northbound as needed. Patrol cars will travel alongside the runners. Private vehicles, shuttles and tour buses will not be permitted to cross northbound.
There was even talk of possibly canceling the bridge portion of the marathon.
“But people had made plans already and it seemed too late to cancel,” Clemens said.
Historically, about 4,500 northbound vehicles cross the Golden Gate Bridge from 6 to 9 a.m. The bridge district suggests drivers use the Bay Bridge and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge as alternate paths of travel to get to Marin and the North Bay. The delay is likely to take an hour of extra travel time.
This is a one-time decision to close the bridge northbound for this specific event. The board will consider the broader policy issue of closing the roadway for events later this year, Clemens said.
“The board is looking at that with new information about how people act,” Clemens said. “They will take a closer look.”
Security has been a top concern at the span since the 9/11 attacks. Since then more than $15 million in state and federal grants for security improvements have been spent for both the bridge and the district’s transit systems.
While much of that is kept secret, some security improvements are obvious on the span. Patrol staff has been expanded, lighting was improved, surveillance equipment upgraded and more cameras were added.
An example is the hydraulic gates and fencing that were installed on Conzelman Road under the north approach to the Golden Gate Bridge near Fort Baker in 2006. For years, the road was known as a short-cut for motorists to circumvent backed-up southbound bridge traffic on the Marin side of the span.
But that ended when “rising road barricades” were installed. The hydraulic barrier moves down to allow workers to drive over it, then rises to stop any other potentially dangerous vehicle from entering.
And nearby, new fencing was installed along the western hillside near the north end of the bridge and along the water on the east side, below Vista Point, to keep people out.
“Safety comes first,” said Judy Arnold, Marin supervisor and the bridge board member. “We are a target.”
