San Mateo-Hayward Bridge

San Mateo-Hayward Bridge

The San Mateo–Hayward Bridge is a bridge crossing the American state of California’s San Francisco Bay, linking the San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay. The bridge’s western end is in Foster City, a suburb on the eastern edge of San Mateo. The eastern end of the bridge is in Hayward

The San Mateo-Hayward Bridge crosses the San Francisco Bay along State Route 92 (SR-92) and links the cities of Foster City and Hayward. Drivers pay tolls in the westbound direction on the eastern side of the bridge.

Once considered the worst evening commute in the Bay Area, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge dropped off the list of worst commutes with the completion of the bridge’s widening in January 2003. Funded as part of BATA’s RM 1 program, the low-rise trestle portion of the bridge was widened from four to six lanes to match the configuration of the high-rise portion of the bridge.

Safety on the bridge also has been improved, with the addition of full shoulders along both low-rise trestles providing a safer refuge for disabled vehicles. In addition, the seismic safety of the bridge was increased by Caltrans’ completion of its bridge retrofit project in 2000.

As part of the effort to improve traffic flow and to relieve congestion on the bridge and its approaches, the RM 1-funded Interstate 880/State Route 92 interchange in Hayward was completed in October 2011.