Hayward-San Mateo Bridge
The Hayward-San Mateo Bridge is a bridge crossing the San Francisco Bay, linking the San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay. The original bridge was built in the early 20th century. It was subsequently replaced with a modern span in the later 20th century]]. The bridge carries about 77,000 cars and other vehicles each day.
Its western end is in Foster City, the most recent urban addition to the eastern edge of San Mateo. The eastern end of the bridge is in Hayward.
The bridge is signed as part of California Highway 92, whose western terminus is at the town of Santa Cruz on the Pacific coast. The principle function is to link Interstate 880 in the East Bay with U.S. Highway 101 on the Peninsula. It is roughly parallel to and lies between the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Dumbarton Bridge thus is sometimes used by commuters to avoid traffic delays due to emergencies on those bridges.
The main span over the ship channel located near the western end was built with six lanes, while the long eastern causeway was built with four lanes, two in each direction, planned for eventual expansion to six lanes. The four lane section was quickly overwhelmed by traffic and not until 2004 was the final expansion to six lanes completed, along with much needed improvements in its connections with highway 880 in Hayward.
