Bay Bridge closure: Rays’ Joe Maddon prefers Southland freeways

You might have thought Southern California freeways are difficult to negotiate during construction, but former Angels coach and Rays Manager Joe Maddon says it’s worse in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the closing of the Bay Bridge to remove the old eastern span this weekend made travel tough to Oakland for Tampa Bay’s game against the A’s.

Now, the greater Los Angeles area does not have a large body of water to negotiate when traveling east-west as in the Bay Area. And there are only a few freeways that run north-south on the San Francisco Peninsula and east of the bay.

So when the Rays had to travel from their hotel in San Francisco to the ballpark in Oakland, the best route was south on Highway 101, east across the San Mateo Bridge and north on Interstate 880.

“People complain about Southern California, but at least there’s more freeway options down there,” Maddon told reporters after a commute of 1 hour 45 minutes. “There’s very few freeway options here.”

True, there are more freeway options in the Southland, but as soon as construction closes down some lanes or re-routes traffic off a freeway onto surface streets, chaos usually ensues.

Maddon didn’t seem to mind the long commute though.

“Listen, I had no problem with it,” he said. “I kind of enjoyed it. It was very nostalgic.”

Rays pitcher David Price did not take the team bus though. He opted for a cab ride, which was a costly idea.

Though it took him only an hour, according to a tweet, it did cost him $202.

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