By STEVEN LUO
Beat Staff Writer

Today’s Bay Bridge closure is creating a traffic nightmare for commuters trying to get to and from work.

The San Mateo Bridge, the hardest hit in the morning commute, was already backed up eastbound by 4 p.m. as commuters looked to get a jump on evening commute traffic. By 5:30 p.m., southbound Highway 101 heading to the bridge was backed up all the way to the I-380 junction.

Traffic is also slow on the Golden Gate Bridge in both directions, with slow traffic reaching all the way north on Highway 101 to Sir Francis Drake Blvd by 4:30 p.m.

Transit operators are also seeing heavy passenger loads earlier than normal, with long lines and packed trains at BART stations throughout the commute.

Ferry operators saw long lines early in the commute, though by 6 p.m. those had dissipated.

• BAY BRIDGE CLOSURE TWITTER UPDATES: Follow @californiabeat for up-to-the-minute updates on the repair and when the bridge might reopen.
• PLAN YOUR COMMUTE: 511.org Bay Bridge closure page

• RELATED: Day One: The Bay Area without the Bay Bridge

• RELATED: BREAKING: Still no estimate for Bay Bridge reopening
• RELATED: Bay Bridge closed indefinitely after crack repair breaks

The early start to the evening commute came as no surprise after this morning’s nighmarish traffic.

Traffic on the approaches to the San Mateo Bridge began backing up well before 6 a.m. thanks in no small part to multiple accidents in the area. Even though the accidents were cleared quickly, by 7:30 a.m., the crawl on southbound I-880 extended into Oakland.

The bridge itself was also slow, with travel times of half an hour from the 880/92 junction to the toll plaza and from the toll plaza to the Foster City end of the span reported.

Very slow traffic was also reported on the primary routes from the North Bay into San Francisco, with Highway 37 heading from Vallejo to Novato and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge both backed up by 6:30 a.m.

Golden Gate Bridge spokesperson Mary Currie told KCBS radio that traffic on that bridge was two times that of last Wednesday.

Of all the routes across the Bay, the Dumbarton Bridge held up best, with traffic at least moving across the bridge all morning.

Bay Area transit agencies reported no delays this morning, though BART reported a 49% increase in transbay ridership, and parking lots filled fast.

The reverse commute direction was not proving immune to problems this morning either: eastbound traffic on the San Mateo Bridge was very slow earlier, and northbound traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge was also slow.

E-mail Steven Luo at californiabeat@gmail.com. Join the California Beat on Facebook, and get breaking news headlines, story alerts and previews when you follow us on Twitter.