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Calif. Commuters Leery of Bridges
U.S. Californian Commuters are giving trains and ferries another look in the wake of warnings that terrorists could be targeting suspension spans including the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.
Governor Gray Davis issued the warnings Thursday. Although the FBI said the threat was uncorroborated, Davis told The Associated Press he felt he had an obligation to tell the public.
Traffic was off more than usual for a Friday on the four bridges Davis singled out, including Vincent Thomas at the Port of Los Angeles and the Coronado Bridge in San Diego.
Meanwhile, mass transit alternatives, especially in the Bay Area, saw jumps in ridership.
The number of ferry passengers into San Francisco was up Friday, both from Oakland in the east and Marin County in the north. But the system was far from maxed out.
On an average day, the first six runs of Alameda Ferries' boats would carry 500 passengers from Oakland and Alameda. On Friday, there were 900 passengers.
Several more ferry runs into San Francisco will be added Monday from Marin County. Ridership surged Friday from 1,600 to nearly 2,900 people during the morning commute, according to Mary Currie, spokeswoman for Golden Gate transportation district.
Extra runs are also planned for the Bay Area Rapid Transit commuter train.
Normally, about 40,000 people catch BART trains into downtown San Francisco, according to BART spokeswoman Vicki Wills. The daily average nudged up 2,000 people Friday, when BART ran some extra trains.
In San Diego and Los Angeles, the bridges are not major commuter arteries so the disruption has been minimal.
Government planners are revisiting lessons learned after the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake snapped off a slab of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1989, closing it for 33 days.
That closure was a boon to the region's commuter train network, which experienced a sustained rise in ridership. The earthquake also resurrected the trans-bay ferry service from Oakland that has survived to today.
Over the weekend, San Francisco merchants complained that even locals were staying away.
In Oregon, where the alert had triggered additional security precautions at some of the most heavily traveled bridges, all was quiet on Sunday.
In Washington, Pierce County Emergency Management reported no problems with the state's only suspension bridge, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, but special patrols continue there.
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