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San Mateo-Hayward Bridge
Rating Details »
Categories: Local Flavor, Religious Organizations
Highway 92Between Foster City & Hayward
Foster City, CA 94404
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
24 reviews for San Mateo-Hayward Bridge
I love the San Mateo Bridge!
As a native Californian I am very proud of all our San Francisco Bay Area bridges.
The San Mateo Bridge is long a- - bridge with a very high span wuu--, with a beautiful view of the bay!
If your from outta town and you've never been across this bridge:
make sure you strap on your roller coaster seat belt as your car takes you up to the top of the ride. Don't be scurred, you'll be auight.
When ever I go across this bridge with my Arkansas boyfriend he calls a family member and he says, "...you can reach down an get a cuppa wutta" as he describes the experience to a friend or family member. Funny huu--? You know he's not from here.
You looked beautiful this morning. See you after work, bridgy bridge ;)
haha
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/28/2009
I believe that it's safe to say that I am a bridge expert. Do I have the knowledge to build a… Read more »
O WOW I CAN REVIEW A BRIDGE IT GETS 5 STARS FOR GETTING ME FROM FOSTER CITY TO HAYWARD!!!!!
of course it does, it's a bridge, that's it's job...
why am i even able to review this?
I love this bridge. It's my favorite. The drive is long enough to give you time to think and short enough to change your mind about a lot of things.
The openness and cleanliness of the bridge is always something I look forward to-even in traffic. It makes the whole drive bearable.
I have flown over this bridge in a Cessna and I can tell you the view from above is breath-taking. It's beauty is in its simplicity.
Exaclty where is the center of the Bay Area?
Right here on the San Mateo bridge, where you feel like you're driving barely above the water and where the SM and Alameda county lines meet.
To one side, the Bay Bridge.
Other way, you can see the Dumbarton.
The mini skyline of Redwood City and Foster City.
The rolling hills of Hayward and Castro Valley.
Someday I wanna take a helicopter and fly right to the center, hang off the landing gear as if it were monkey bars and just take in that view.
UYE helicopter tour over the Bay, anyone?!
Being a "92" traveler, I have to say its SOOOOOOOOOO nice they built the second bridge, ie north bound. I used to HATE 92...Oh I loathed it so...to know I had to travel just 12 miles and it would take 1 hour or so.
But now your 3 lanes each way. I do have to take a minuet to talk about the "CHP" wind tunnel you drive going east bound. Now there are "break down" lanes to keep your car off the road, but the CHP LOVES the 5 on 92. There almost always there and one ALWAYS has the radar gun. they also LOVE to sit on the Foster City side of 92 so keep it at 65.
The toll takers are pretty cool for the mundane job of money changer. I've given one a rose, and another one got me to call the toll office there and give a cool report of the guy. Now there is one lady who should get a shave, and maybe smile once in awhile too, but all in all there some pretty cool folks to chat with for a sec.
this is a long ass bridge. But i enjoy it alot.
Ah, San Mateo bridge, yes you are one of the longest bridges in the West but you are one of the most plain as well. Yes you are clearly visible from the sky when flying into SFO but who on God's green earth made you with only 2 lanes up to around 2003? Seriously, there are only a few ways over to the peninsula and one of the most critical ones was only TWO lanes for decades.
Imagine this. I was living in Hayward in 1999 and working in South SF. The 26-mile commute took about 1hr 10min thanks to insane traffic on the bridge and the toll booth. Imagine a balmy Wednesday and there's a stalled vehicle on the left-hand lane. NOW imagine a 3-car accident on the RIGHT lane 1/4 mile up. You can imagine the colon-blocking colostomy bag of fun that was. That day, my one-way commute took 3 hours.
San Mateo Bridge 1, Dave 0
At long last you got expanded to 3 lanes and things were better.
But something that may never improve is that accursed 92 to 880 transition. With the people onramping at Hesperian and an immediate halt to get onto 880N/S, you're just asking for an accident. That's what happened to me in 2004.
I was idle in a jam coming back from work in Mountain View on my way home to Alameda. A car rams me from behind at 50mph. He was new to the area and didn't even KNOW people were slowing down and couldn't react in time. My car was totaled and honestly no one that saw the car knows how I got out unscathed.
San Mateo Bridge 1, Dave 1
4 Stars for the extra lanes, AND shoulders. When it was 4 lanes total with NO shoulders, there was a major constipation with any hiccup in traffic flow. I commuted across this bridge during several different time periods over the past 30 years.
When it was the 4 lanes, and raining hard, tide was in, wind blowing 60 mph, the water came up and onto the roadway, driving that at night felt like driving off of the end of the world . . .
Now I commute every day from Hayward to Burlingame, and it is a picnic. Average traffic speed: 80 MPH ! ! ! and not unsafe . . .
My friend the Highway Patrolman who works this area, said last week they clocked a Corvette at 143 MPH on the bridge ! ! ! The officers comment, "Sir, your speed was a little excessive . . . " The driver, "Sir, I was just trying to blow out the carbon, and get out of 4th gear - I had two more gears to go and there was no one in sight . . . "
WARNING TO ALL WHO ARE NOW DRIVING THE BRIDGE IN THE MORNING OR MID DAY EASTBOUND - THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL IS WAITING WITH HAND HELD LIDAR (http://en.wikipedia.or...) SPEED GUNS (Hiding in the eastbound turnouts) AND CITING MANY DRIVERS . . . I'll update when they move on to another location.
After 3 days off, two Bike Chippies out today with the LIDAR around 11:30 AM.
This is March 14, 2007 . . .
A cool bridge. No complaints. Friendly toll-takers. You can drive really fast across this bridge usually.
Not all fancy like The Golden Gate, but there is a cool view for passengers.
One time my brother was driving across this bridge and his sleeping passenger woke up and screamed, "You're too close to the center divider!" And he grabbed the wheel and my brother pulled back hard and they ended up hitting the center divider and scratching the Camry down the whole driver's side...but not too bad. lol
I have seen some accidents on this bridge or nearby. Let's not go there. =(
I commuted across this bridge for years, it was always a fun drive. Look for cops behind you and if it is clear...you can smoke some dope. Or so I heard. Just open the sunroof. Nice. If they ever pulled you over you could just throw your dope out the sunroof into the water below. What are they gonna do then? If they accuse you of doing that then just deny, deny, deny.
Tell the governemnet to stop treating us like babies and let us smoke pot while we drive. Ohhh, but cigarettes are ok. Ridiculous. I guess marijuana doesn't have the advertising dollars and PACs that the tobacco companies have.
Did I mention nice toll takers? =)
Wow. People must be really bored if they want to write a review on the San Mateo Bridge. Bored like me!
I remember the first time riding across the San Mateo bridge. It was an etherial experience. It was 1989. My dad was breaking in our new 560 SEL. We cruised down 280 to 92 towards the East Bay on a warm autumn evening. And there was the bridge, this great expanse that slowly rose off the Peninsula shore, two lanes in each direction, a narrow straight guided on either side by amber lights, bright like embers against the black velvet sky.
That's something I miss, sitting in the back seat as a kid, lulled by the rhythmic beating of the tires' tread against sheets of asphalt, falling asleep so fast you don't even realize that you were tired in the first place. And it was always so refreshing, waking up at your final destination, whether shopping mall parking lot or during the last two turns into the garage before mom or dad unbuckled you and carried you upstairs.
But my first time wasn't my most memorable moment at the bridge. It actually came in the winter of '95. I had just dropped off a girl at her home in Fremont after accompanying her to her Winter Ball. It was late, maybe 2ish, after the dance we went her friend's house and ended up watching Stargate of all movies.
I was young and stupid. I was heading westbound on 92 when a car came speeding behind me. He started tailgating me, flashing his high beams. It was dark, the highway lights frosted in the winter chill like snowflakes lit by the moon. I figured, my car's pretty fast, let's see how he fast he wants to go.
Empty lane beside me, he didn't pass. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. 85 miles per hour. 95 miles per hour. I was getting home a lot faster than I thought I would. All the way up to the San Mateo Bridge, we were now cruising at a cool 110 miles per hour. By now, he was no longer tailgating me, there were a few car lengths between us and he stopped high beaming.
And just before reaching the bridge the car behind me turned on his sirens.
To cut a long story short, I pleaded guilty, told the judge my story, and he said, with a story like that, it's worth pleading innocent. And I did. By the time the court date rolled around, the cop didn't show. When his name was called, another officer replied "He's no longer on the force." The judge looked at me and told me it was my lucky day.
Since then they've added a lane, and all childhood memories and teenage angst has faded in the back of my mind like a sunspot in the sun. Highways are just a way to get around, tacking on time to our commutes as we breath in exhaust and exhale exhaustion, listening to pop music on the radios, tapping our fingers on the shift knob and shuffling our foot between the gas and the brake pedal in traffic.
I used to love commuting to P-town on the SMB. Going east in the morning, there was often a flock of white pelicans near the Hayward side.
Coming back home in the evening, there's a great view of the setting sun and the clouds rolling over the tops of the hills.
Once I was caught in a huge lightening storm at the high end; huge hits on the water right next to the bridge.
BTW, so true about the women in SUVs and I am a woman as well but that's my experience. Watch out for them; they are not watching out for you.
I love my drive to the Peninsula on a sunny morning. Just be sure to hold on to your wheel with both hands when there's crazy wind gusts because you feel your car moving around a bit. Watch out for small women driving large SUVs because chances are, they're not going to look when merging and may almost push you off the bridge. Oh yes, I've been near some of those...If there's an accident, just hunker down and know you're going to be stuck on the bridge for up to an hour or so. Otherwise, as long as the weather is 100% perfect, you're golden, and so is that bridge!
Who knew you could yelp a bridge?
In the respect of "bridging" the gap between two land masses, spanning in this case a body of water... Yeah, it does that pretty well.
Its your standard bridge I'd say.
It seems as though there is a lot of work going into our bridges which is great.
Most of the SM bridge doesn't have a shoulder which makes the prospect of breaking down a nightmare but whatever this a really boring subject to yelp about.
In the past as a passenger I noticed how much time it took to cross this bridge and all the water I had seen.Actually it scared me,but as a driver ..you have seen Fast and Furious,eh?
My passengers didn't complain.
This is a really fun bridge to drive across because it's so long. Also, there's a slightly raised part on the west (?) end, but the rest is pretty close to the water. That makes for some interesting driving. This thing is really annoying to drive across in rush hour or when the Bay Bridge is closed for some reason, but it's OK, I guess.
This bridge scares the shit out of me cause the sea seems to be only 2 inches below the damn thing. HOLY SHIT. It's really freakin scary at night after you've departed with your mother at the airport..
one long bridge i must say. the bridge is not like a typical bridge. it's not one of those where you would feel like your on a bridge. the height of this bridge isn't high up like Bay bridge or Golden gate Bridge. the height of this bridge is literally parallel to bay (well at least a great part of it). i think this bridge is great, especially since the road conditions are pretty damn good. It also give drivers a part of the bay area that most people wouldn't see if they are a city boy/girl.
lowered one star because its missing the craze that golden bridge has. it's also missing a place for people to take photos.
4 stars just for the view. I wish they could just close off a section of the apex of the bridge just to capture that feel of being in the center of the bay. 1 star off for the nail-biting construction near the 92 east-880 south interchange. Scratch that, don't bite your nails...keep them on the steering wheel!
Yo I am bored, but hey I just discovered this bridge so I'm going to write a review on it.. I just moved to the Peninsula and now use this bridge to save time. What I like about this bridge is the view of the bay, it's like you are like riding on the water hypothetically. My only complaint is that it costs the same price as the Bay Bridge to cross....booooo!
the first bridge i ever crossed when i first came to the bay area in december 1998.
we arrived at sfo and drove across on our way to hayward.
my mom was getting worried after driving on the cruiseway for a while... asking if this bridge will ever end
i'm glad they made the cruiseway wider a few years ago.
also during free toll carpool periods, the minimum is 2 persons instead of the bay bridge's 3 persons minimum :)
Boo, San Mateo Bridge. Although it's very smooth, the sheer distance drops it to two stars. When I first moved to San Mateo, I ended up in the "get on the bridge only" lane, and I had to cross the whole bridge and come right back. That one mistake took me almost 20 miles out of my way, AND cost me $3. Ugh.
Living in land-locked London, I love all the water and bridges in and around the Bay area. I like this bridge as it's closer to the water than the Bay Bridge or Golden Gate Bridge and you feel much more connected to it as you drive across. Only downer is that I'm always driving when I cross the bridge and can't really enjoy the views.
It's the one I took when I was going to school in the East Bay, and it's now the one I take to go see my cousins, my uncle, and my boyfriend... So it serves it's purpose...
