At its worst, traffic was at a stop on the freeway between Harbor Boulevard and the connector to I-5.
It was stop and go on some surface streets. The City of Sacramento says Highway 160 and Capitol Mall were the most frequently-used alternate routes.
Tony Cygan says the Tower Bridge Gateway was his only viable alternate route compared to the others.
"You know, they're so far out of position because I'm going to the Zig here and going clear around the other way would put me way out of schedule."
Many people car-pooled, took other routes, or other forms of transportation.
Tatiana Morphas was on her bicycle crossing the Tower Bridge. "It's really bad. I haven't seen anything like this. But, I feel sorry for the drivers."
Daniel Rocha lives in West Sacramento and rode his bike to Sutter Memorial Hospital. He says he plans to ride the bike from now on.
"I did it yesterday, tested it out, and it's gonna take me 30 days every day to commute from my house to work."
The City of Sacramento had prepared for severe traffic congestion on many surface streets. But the City says congestion only materialized on Highway 160 to 12th Street and over Tower Bridge to Capitol Mall.
Construction crews are laying new concrete on top of the freeway and re-enforcing support columns on U.S. 50.
This phase will last two weeks. The next phase will close access to connector ramps for eastbound traffic to I-5 and Highway 99.
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