Goodbye Concrete

On Friday night I gathered with approx. 50 other people at midnight to witness the closure of the Fell St off ramp. There were about a dozen cyclists, the rest mostly locals. At midnight most tried to count the "last car" but alas our brothers in Caltrans are not known for their attention to time, and managing the traffic snarl is never the easiest of professions.

So midnight came and went, the crowd grew and diminished, someone called KRON 4, KTVU and KCBS (who's answer was "oh are the cyclists blocking the freeway?" disappointingly the KCBS "newshound" was told that "no, it was a friendly community affair" - hence little or no coverage)

On Sunday at the cellphone call of a friend, I rode my brand new bicycle down octavia to witness a fence opened with dozens of people letting themselves into the concrete graveyard. As I speed up the ramp I was struck with a bizarre view, crossing Market St in reverse, the freeway empty, I felt like someone in the post apocalyptic future "Where is everyone?" I yelled in mocking tones, much to the amuzement of my fellow freeway occupiers. Alas our moments of surreal delight came to an end when the CHP told us (at a distance from his cruiser - yes they are THAT lazy) to "get off the freeway, go back where you came from" - despite claims that some on the freeway were "from Russia" the crowd persisted.

Upon our exit, the lone CHP officers seemed delighted with the attention of several PR bunnies, as we left the scene several CHP cruisers sped to the closed freeway ramp, presumably to deal with the "situation".

Goodbye Fell St offramp, We hardly knew ya.