San Mateo–Hayward Bridge

The San Mateo–Hayward Bridge (commonly called the San Mateo Bridge) is a bridge crossing the U.S. state of California's San Francisco Bay. It provides a link of the San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay. The bridge's west end is in Foster City, a suburb on the eastern edge of San Mateo. The east end of the bridge is in Hayward. It is the longest bridge in California and the 25th longest in the world. The bridge is owned by the state of California, and is maintained by Caltrans, the state highway agency. It is also managed by the Bay Area Toll Authority.

The bridge is part of State Route 92, whose western end is at Half Moon Bay on the Pacific coast. It links Interstate 880 in the East Bay with U.S. Route 101 on the Peninsula. It is roughly parallel to and lies between the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Dumbarton Bridge. Drivers sometimes use it to avoid traffic delays on the other two bridges.

Tolls

Drivers have to pay a toll when they drive west on the bridge (from Hayward to San Mateo). Tolls are collected at a toll plaza on the east side of the bridge. All toll is collected electronically since 2020. Drivers can use the FasTrak electronic toll collection device, pay online, or pay automatically when a machine scans their license plate. Since 2022, the toll rate for passenger cars is $7.

San Mateo–Hayward Bridge Media

• California - San Francisco - NARA - 23935735.jpg

  Lift span of the original bridge

• San Mateo Bridge.jpg

  San Mateo–Hayward Bridge (1967), showing some of the electric transmission towers paralleling the bridge route and Werder Pier (at left)

• San Mateo Bridge High Rise Eastbound.jpg

  The view of the East Bay as seen by eastbound traffic on the descent from the highrise

• Bridges (2412527).jpg

  Werder Pier, the remnant of the original 1929 western trestle span

Other websites

• Bay Area Toll Authority bridge facts Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Bridge at the California Department of Transportation website (page describes several "planned" improvements which have already been implemented)
• official project links at DOT website
• FasTrak – San Mateo–Hayward Bridge
• tolls at 511.org transportation information website Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
• Foley, E.R. (October 19, 1967). Bridge to Profoundly Affect Future—Foley. San Mateo. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/52349947/.  The Times of San Mateo ran a special commemorative issue on 1967-10-19 detailing the construction of the 1967 orthotropic span.
• (has scans of old postcards depicting the 1929 span)
• New Bridge To Be Longest In the World. February 13, 1929. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9S8iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_aMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5166%2C4426670. Retrieved January 15, 2015.  Provides a contemporary account of original (1929) bridge construction.