Adaptation

The Bay Bridge closure enters its second day. Obviously, the main disruption occurred in the Oakland-San Francisco artery, but traffic throughout the Bay Area was affected. Many drivers chose the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge as their Bay crossing alternative, perhaps 40 miles and two hours out of their way with the heavier traffic. That meant extraordinary delays going north into San Francisco from the mid-Peninsula where I live.

I cancelled a couple of meetings in the City and promised to reschedule them until after the bridge re-opens. It helps that my work can be done on the computer and telephone and doesn’t often require my physical presence. I suspect that’s true for many jobs: workers can connect with computers, smartphones, and broadband connections from home. That’s not as true with the health profession and retailers; not surprisingly those industries are plagued with high fixed costs not easily reducible by technology. Meanwhile, the adaptation continues:

A trend apparent during the first day of the shutdown Wednesday - commuters leaving early to beat the rush - seemed to be taking hold today, said Officer John Short of the California Highway Patrol, who was monitoring traffic conditions from Caltrans' Traffic Management Center in Oakland.

Compared to Wednesday, "I would say it's probably a little light, less incidents - and that's a good thing," Short said. "I'm looking at (Highway) 92 and (Interstate) 880, and there's a lot of cars out there, but traffic is down, and also incidents are down."

Oh, well, that’s enough rumination, as I reach for another lemonade on the sunshiny patio of a lively Italian restaurant on the Peninsula. That’s how you deal with life’s lemons. © 2009 Stephen Yuen