It seems that there’s going to be possible traffic delays in all directions this weekend, so be warned.
If you’re heading south this evening into San Francisco, you’ll be joined by tens of thousands of Giants fans heading to AT&T Park for hopeful the Giants second victory against the Braves. Game time is 6:37 p.m. Of course, they’ll be the usual Friday-night-let’s go-The-City traffic too.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Navy’s Blue Angels will put on a dazzling show over San Francisco Bay in the afternoon, and it’s common for the Golden Gate Bridge to grind to a near halt as rubberneckers gawk at the amazing flying skills of the pilots. So leave early.
Along Highway 101 north of Petaluma, there’s the annual pumpkin patch that drivers can’t seem to pass by without slowing and gawking at the pumpkins, corn maze and families enjoying the hunt for the right pumpkin. Southbound traffic often backs up to the Cotati area, and northbound slows but rarely crawls like the southbound drivers.
In the west county Saturday, 6,000 bicyclists will be riding in the Levi Leipheimer King Ridge GranFondo, and there’ll be plenty of congestion on Santa Rosa and country roads. The ride begins at 8 a.m. in Santa Rosa and winds out to the coast with the course closed to riders at 4:30 p.m. The CHP expects delays of about five minutes to drivers. For details, CLICK HERE for The Press Democrat’s coverage or CLICK HERE for the GranFondo website.
The CHP is assigning 37 officers to the GranFondo to help with traffic throughout the west county.
To the east, there’s the B.R. Cohn music festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the winery along Highway 12 in Glen Ellen. Watch for congestion on Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley.
To the north, the California Wine Country Marathon runs from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with 1,200 participants. Traffic delays are possible on the streets around Healdsburg City Hall as well as West Dry Creek and Dry Creek roads. The CHP plans a rolling road closure as the runners make their way along the route.
For drivers, CHP Officer Jon Sloat suggests avoiding these areas or seek out alternate routes.
“The biggest problem we see any time there is a road closure, whether there is a race, emergency, whatever, people know only one way to get to where they are going. Drivers need to familiarize themselves with alternate routes. There is always another way to get where you’re going,” he said.
