"The crack is significant enough to have closed the bridge on its own," Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said at a news conference Saturday night. "We have to make this repair before we reopen the bridge."
Ney added "it's very possible that this could prevent us from opening Tuesday morning," when the work week resumes and the bridge had been set to reopen.
The 73-year-old bridge was shut down Thursday night so a section of the eastern span could be cut out and replaced with a new double-deck section that will connect the bridge with a short detour.
Friday was the first time the bridge was closed on a workday since part of it collapsed in a devastating 1989 earthquake.
California transportation workers have used the closure this weekend to conduct a top-to-bottom inspection of the bridge.
Ney said the last such inspection was in 2007, and that the crack likely appeared since then. He said he did not believe it was related to the construction project.
"The bridge will be safer when we open it than when we closed it," he said.
QUICK HEADLINES | MORE US/WORLD | GET NEWS ALERTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABC13 SOCIAL NETWORKING
Find us on Facebook® | Follow us on Twitter | More social networking
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE FROM ABC13
ABC13 widget | Most popular stories |
Street-level weather
ABC13 wireless |
Slideshow archive |
Help solve crimes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
