Update, 7:25 a.m. Saturday: All lanes of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge reopened Saturday morning more than 19 hours after police activity shut down the eastbound direction Friday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
All eastbound lanes of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge were blocked Friday afternoon due to police activity, the California Highway Patrol said.
The closure began around noon and left drivers stuck on the bridge for hours until officers cleared the side of the bridge around 10 p.m.
“If you need to get to the East Bay, I recommend you find any other way to get there,” said an officer.
Officers said a person was having a mental health crisis on the bridge and negotiators were on scene.
“Whoever the individual is, send out prayers for him,” said Toni Payne, an East Bay resident.
Local
She said she had been stuck in San Rafael since around 2 p.m. when she was on her way home from San Francisco.
At around 11 p.m., she planned to wait it out because she didn’t know the area well.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“If I have to sit here till midnight, I’m good,” she said.
Many others agreed it wasn't worth it to drive through the back-ups on the surrounding roads.
“I take Vallejo way, it's two hours, if I go to San Francisco it’s the same, so I decided to stay here,” said Gabriel Pacindo, who was driving to Berkeley.
Tempers were at times running high in the standstill on the bridge. Some drivers even turned around and drove the wrong way into traffic.
“They started getting in a fight right there in front of me,” said Pacindo.
San Rafael police asked the public to be patient and to find alternate ways home.
As of 11 p.m., the CHP didn’t know when the eastbound lanes were going to reopen.
