Quake damage fixed, highway lanes open in Napa, Solano counties

The CHP opened a Highway 29 lane late Tuesday afternoon, after road crews completed earthquake damage repairs.

The southbound lane at the George Butler Bridge was closed for about eight hours after minor damage from the earthquake was exacerbated early Tuesday by a series of aftershocks, according to the CHP.

The strongest aftershock, at 5:33 a.m., was a magnitude-3.9 and was centered between American Canyon and Napa, not far from the center of Sunday’s magnitude-6.0 quake.

Caltrans completed the work at about 4:30 p.m. and the CHP opened the lane to evening commute traffic.

Also Tuesday minor damage from the earthquakes was found on Highway 37 in a westbound lane near Mare Island.

That forced a shorter lane closure as crews made the fix. The lane was closed for about two hours, starting at about 11:30 a.m, said Solano County CHP Officer Rick Weaver.

The more serious Highway 29 issue involved a bump in the pavement created Sunday morning, which got bigger apparently with the aftershocks.

Caltrans officials had expected the Napa work to last until about 6 p.m., according to the CHP.

Traffic there was being funneled to one lane and traffic was down to a crawl for hours.

Highway 29 is a major connector route between Highway 12 in east Sonoma County and Highway 121 in southern Napa County.

“We don’t feel it’s unsafe enough to need to close (the bridge.) We’ve closed the No. 1 lane,” said Napa CHP Officer Lisa Paulson. “There was something there initially. It looks like it’s perhaps gotten bigger, maybe after some of the aftershocks.”