Originally Posted by
bikingshearer
A few years ago, one of the upper deck lanes was cordoned off to make a two-way bike lane after a long administrative battle, one of the biggest bicycle advocacy victories in the area. The separator looks kind of like a "zipper," but it is stationary, not moveable. So now there are two westbound lanes for cars with a permanent lane for bikes going both ways, while there are still three eastbound lanes for cars. The proposal is basically to get rid of the bike lane and return to the status quo ante.
"A few years ago" means 46 years ago, in 1977. From the bridge's opening in 1956 to 1977, the bridge had 3 lanes in each direction, top and bottom. The standard width for traffic lanes back then was narrower than now (for example, the Bay Bridge used to have six lanes on the top deck; now it has five). In 1977, the rightmost lane of the upper deck was taken out of service to be used for a cross-bay pipeline to supply Marin Co. with water. (BTW, all of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island is served by a single 9" water pipe across the western span of the Bay Bridge; when the eastern span of the BB was rebuilt, no secondary pipe was added from the Oakland side). In 1982, the pipeline was removed but the lane was converted into a wide maintenance and emergency lane, as was done on the bottom deck so the bridge was two lanes in each direction. That was the status until 2019, when the top deck lane was converted from a maintenance and emergency lane to a bike lane.