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About The Bay: Weather Holds Keys To Bay Bridge Closure

EMERYVILLE (CBS SF) - Motorists have been warned - repeatedly - that Caltrans plans to close the upper deck of the Bay Bridge over the President's Day holiday weekend for construction work.

"What we have to do for this closure is widen out the incline section heading on to the old Bay Bridge," explained Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney. "This is not so much challenging engineering work in this case. There's a lot of painting."

Challenging or not, the closure is not a sure thing. You may be able to sing in the rain, but you can't always do bridge construction work in the rain.

"The rain is very significant this time," said Ney. "If we get to the point where we see a big storm is going to be landing on us this weekend, we may have to push to the following weekend to actually do the work."

If work begins and then the rain comes, they'll have to stop - and work when they can.

"The bridge may open a little bit later than forecast," Ney said of that scenario.

KCBS' Mike Sugerman Reports:

At the risk of stating the obvious, KCBS's Mike Sugerman pointed out Caltrans' timing.

"I've never built a bridge before," Sugerman told Ney. "But you're doing this in February, when it rains a lot!"

"You don't have a choice. The Bay Bridge is very unique, so all these different pieces have to fit together," responded Ney. "We have to do this piece now."

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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