for you. you watched our kpix 5 count down clock. that has been ticking down to tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. that was supposed to be the official opening time. we can tell you minutes ago, the director of cal tran made it official. the bridge will don't. the exact time has not been released. drivers will be using the bridge at some point this evening. kpix 5's phil matier has been watching. phil, i think a lot of people will say less talking, more driving. >> reporter: they would say the sooner the better, but any time you have a project this big, there is bound to be something. thankfully, it wasn't that long. okay, there's been problems all along, but they gathered today, more to talk about the future and the positives of what this bridge means. let's take a listen. >> 24 years since the

earthquake. it's about time, everybody, isn't it? when we all come together, after we've all had our say, aren't the results beautiful? isn't it really beautiful? >> this bridge, it insures our safety. we all remember the destruction brought by the earthquake. we know the dangers of a future quake. that's why it's so important that this span is built to withstand and survive eve tennessee most violent quakes. >> reporter: while the mood was definitely on the celeb ravens tour nature, there was a lesson

-- celebratory nature, but it still is happening. >> reporter: sources tell us the reason they are being evasive about exactly what happened the bridge opens, they just don't want to have a massive backup of people trying to get on. so it will be quiet at least until we move to the chain cutting ceremony. >> phil, i had also heard that chp is going to be monitoring traffic. so they are setting the pace so the people who do cross the bridge don't just take off. >> reporter: they don't want them flooring it or slowing down going take a look at that view, because it is going to be a speck lack layla view. >> too fast, too slow, neither. none good. all right. phil matier, thanks very much. christin ayers is live at the toll plaza. they are getting ready for the chain ceremony. it, too, a little bit delayed.

christin. >> reporter: that's right. we are up here at the toll bridge plaza at the moment. we are just moments away from having that chain cutting ceremony. if you look over hi shoulder, you can actually see that is the chain that will be cut in a short amount of time. they are setting up a blow tomorrow for officials to come and cut -- blown. it will be ahoys touric event, but also a low key one. we do have chp and san francisco police department about here today. we are expecting some dignitaries to come out and speak. this is no where near the opening of the original san francisco bay bridge. that was early part boat parade to a navy air show, a yacht. this was a huge, huge celebration. if you remember, originally the plan was to have a marathon, a bike ride and a massive celebration to welcome people. but, again, a low key affair, a very basic chain cutting

ceremony today. we know the governor will be in attendance in just a short amount of time. we will certainly bring you back here live as soon as we can. reporting live from the bay bridge toll plaza, christin ayers kpix 5. >> if you're just joining us, we have been told that the bay bridge will reopen earlier than scheduled. there will be traffic across it at some point this evening, but we have not been given the exact time. let's go back to julia goodrich. >> reporter: allen, thanks. the roads are busy with the people headed back from their labor day get away. >> julia, hey. good evening, everybody. with traffic slow on labor day, especially from i-80, all those folks wrapping up their holiday weekend. very slow traffic through davis into fairfield. also very slow traffic for

southbound 505. highway37, it is also crowded as people avoid the bay bridge. eastbound will be jammed up from lakeville highway. heading for the golden gate which has been hit pretty hard with delays for most of the day, getting to the golden gate in san francisco, northbound southbound not too bad. just north you will see a patch of slow traffic leaving the area. the san mateo bridge westbound traffic looking good. once on the bridge it is no problem. it is getting to the bridge, extremely crowded. that will be backed up because of earlier problems. southbound 880 is very crowded at this hour. through oakland, approaching heyward, all heading towards the san mateo bridge. julia. >> thank you, lisa. >> this has been my job site for 10 years now. this bridge led me to my wife.

a decade of blood, sweat, and tears. workers telling us the story behind the see how the new bay bridge changed their lives forever. and, if you're planning on being among the first to cross the new span of the bay bridge, the chp says there's something you should know first. something you should know weather-wise as well. the radar is not completely clear w. have some showers. mainly cloudy for most of you. beautiful shot, though e looking over the golden gate, into the city. we will see if there are anymore rain chances, coming up e. ,,

five. ken, they are also geg ready for a ceremo four times the bay bridge has been closed to traffic on labor day weekend. this is perhaps the most important. it is the fourth and we would hope the last one. ken bastida is in a group of car are also hoping to become

among the first to cross the new span. ken. >> reporter: allen, actually kpix 5 camera crews had a sneak preview earlier this day and drove across the bridge already. we will show you some of that video right now. if you look close you can see they are still actually doing work up on the bridge there is -- there is quite a bit of detail stuff, a punch list, if you will, that has to be completed. if i look over to the side i can see people like willie brown, former mayor of san francisco and other dignitary, a lot of state assembly people, legislature going over to the chain cutting that will be taking place momentarily. they are actually going to open the bridge to a little bit of a procession with some vintage cars. these are b. the first car going across is going to be a

1935 ford convertible. how do i know that? don't ask me, but i do know the guy who had been driving it. his name is wayne barnesings and he is very excited -- barnes, and he is very excited. >> i remember coming when it was 25 cents each way across the bridge. so those toll plaza days, this is a big deal e specially for somebody from this era. >> it is cool, allen and julia, the oakland pd, san francisco pd and the california highway patrol will go first. they are all wearing their bow ties. you don't see that too often. the little blue bow ties. they are taking pictures and celebrating. it is very much a festive mood. let me show you real quickly before we go back. all the pavement that has been laid down here. beautiful striping. the lane dividers are called

quick curves. the entire toll plaza has been repainted. there are new guardrails in front of each of them. looks like they built this yesterday. everything has been gone through. new bolts, new paint, new pavement, new striping. there will be new lighting on the bridge. all of this stuff is about to get underway. i had ken come up to me and i asked him, can you tell me when the bridge is gonna open. he said you know what, we printed on here grand opening labor day 2013. as you know, he wanted to open today. they don't want to open tomorrow. they are going to open it tonight. exactly when, it's going to take a little while they have some movie lights to take down. they have to clear some barriers. but we should have a new bridge to drive on later this evening. back to you. >> that is certain certainly good news. ken, when i look behind me, all

the chp cars are gone so we are getting close. >> and we will have coverage throughout our newscast. allen, and ken, thank you so much. two women are dead after a hit and run in san jose early this morning. police say a man crashed his mercedez benz into their car and fled on foot. kpix 5's len ramirez has more. >> reporter: turns out a chp unit encountered the suspect vehicle driving erratically just a few minutes before this accident happened. that new information has family members wondering if this accident could have been prevented. >> in the minutes just before this silver mercedez slammed into this small blue toyota, chp officers saw this same car driving erratically on the highway. >> observed the suspect speeding and weaving. >> chp spokesman says officers tailed the mercedez which exited on its own, but when the

chp flashed its red lights to stop the car, the driver took off. >> the vehicle rapidly accelerated through a red light turning left or south onto first street. at this point, the officers determine, for safety reasons, to not engage in a pursuit, and deactivated their emergency lights. thus ending our attempt to make an enforcement stop. >> the mercedez sped on all by itself. just a few blocks down the street it t boned into the toyota, killing a 63-year-old who was hat the wheel and her coworker who was 62. the women were going to work in the food service at the international airport. the mercedez driver survived and fled on foot. >> this could have been averted. >> family members gathered at her home grieving about the loss and what came down to a chp judgment call to let the car go. >> it is completely a judgment call. the vehicle code would have

allowed them to continue pursuit. >> their first effort, i i would think would be to keep them off the road. if that's the rules they set for the chp, then maybe they should change their own grind because this could have been averted if they would have took the time to pursue them and get them off the streets like they should have. we wouldn't be signature here having this tragedy. >> reporter: just a difficult situation all the way around. the chp says they are not to blame. the person to maim is the driver who is still at large this evening. anyone with information on the suspect's vehicle, they have the license plate, they are trying to track the driver. do none with information to help this investigation is asked to call the san jose police d. reporting live in san jose, len ramirez, kpix 5. coming up tonight, what it's like for the workers. they put in long hours many, many days building this bridge how it feels for them to finally open, and the stories they are going to tell their

grandchildren.

new bay bridge will open to drivers tonight.. we're not sure of and we learned just minutes ago that the bay bridge will reopen tonight. now, they have not announced a specific time, but we'll be sure and let you know as soon as they do. here is exactly, though, the

sequence of events. cal transhas to do a final sweep. and-- cal tran has to do a final sweep. a fleet of street sweepers will go over those lanes one last time. then the chp will send cruisers. they will check the roadway to make sure of its safety. after that, chp will start opening ramps and entry points to the bridge they will also be guiding traffic across the bridge. as i mentioned earlier, the first time anyone goes across they want to maintain the speed limit. they want people to go 50. as i said, not too fast, as phil matier pointed out, not too slow either. they say they are going to be targeting drivers who go out of their way to try to be the first across the bring. >> we willed advise people that the opening may come as a surprise for the public. as far as highway patrol is concerned it is almost an intentional act to make sure no one is waiting on the opening

causing an unstable situation on the freeway. >> a new bridge span includes a shoulder, but anyone thinking about pulling over to take pictures, you better think twice about that. chp is emphasizing stopping on the side of the bridge for non- emergency purposes is not only dangerous, it is illegal. they are going to ticket you for that. the opening of this new span comes nearly 25 years after the 1989 earthquake. the 6.9 magnitude quake collapsed two 50-foot sections of the bay bridge. millions were just tuning in to watch game three of the bay bridge world series between the a's and the giants. the quake killed 63 people and caused up to $10 billion in damage. at that time the brim was closed -- bridge was closed for a month to get it repaired. but the hundreds of men and women who built the bay bridge are a part of history. in fact, dozens of their name

is etched on the new eastern span. it is kind of a tradition, we are told, for workers to sign part of that bridge as you can imagine, there is a lot of emotion as we get set. a lot of workers have spent not only hours, days, weeks, months, years they have spent getting this bridge ready to go. many of them tell us they are going to sit b relish and enjoy the moment. >> this is the best project you're going to work o. it is a once in a lifetime opportunity >> a lot of long days. a lot of stressful situations. >> huge team effort. the amount of people involved, everyone has a piece. >> this has been my job site for so years now. that's the crown jewel right there. this bridge led me to my wife. it was a case of seduction, really. she's given me one beautiful boy named jackson. you know, i will be able to show my kids this.

their kids are going to be able to drive across it some day and say their grandpa built this. >> my grand kids, i will be able to tell them i built the foundation holding this thing up. >> you going to say you were part of that? >> absolutely. >> you have your head down. just going through the daily grind. >> you're working but every once in a while. >> you pick your head up. >> step back. >> look back. >> remind yourself. >> i'm luck i can to be out here. this is magnificent. >> there was a day i hit golf balls off the pier before it was done. >> as a kid, i was thinking how can i do this when i grow open. well, that bay bridge, that was me. >> it is a moment of pride. >> pride is a huge thing. >> just look at it. >> beautiful. >> it is. >> it's gorgeous, isn't it? >> yep. >> cool. >> it's been fun. it's been real.

it's been real fun, but i'll probably be all right if i don't do another one this size again. >> and state local leaders, all the dignitaries are gathering now near the toll plaza. we're getting ready for the official chain cutting ceremony, juliette. i am told that sign that is on the new eastern span is welcoming drivers. so we're all set to go after all the official stuff is don't we'll let you know the exact time of the opening, though. >> quite a sight to see. allen, thank you. paul is sitting by for weather. wouldn't it be great if they opened the next couple hours just as the sun is setting. >> reporter: yeah. >> maybe we can time it. any time before we get off tonight, right something. >> reporter: that sounds perfect to me. what a beautiful sight. got some cloud cover. got enough character out there. maybe your loved ones will be driving home on the newb . live look outside right now. not as warm as the past couple days. it is pretty cloudy.

there is some action on your radar. concord, 81. downtown san francisco, 76 right now. san jose. let me show you kpix 5 high def doppler. a finger of showers hugging 680 right now. the second half of san jose, this is lifting off to north and east. maybe folks coming back from santa cruz. sunrise, 52 tomorrow morning. nothing like what they have had in palm springs or phoenix or flagstaff. just getting a little bit of moisturings but you see heavier showers up toward the sierra. we are seeing some scattered showers out there. we will stay cooler than normal

the next couple days as low pressure stays off to the west. still drawing up a little bit of that moisture. high temperatures are being kept in check e. kind of like the low and highs switch positions. that will get us warm on thursday and friday. i will use the hot word cause it's going to be hot for the weekend. september is the time of year we typically get an offshore wind. that wind coming down from the east, from the hot desert. we will see that saturday and sunday. a chance for a few sprinkles overnight tonight. sunshine will begin to increase tomorrow. it is going to be much warmer. even san francisco may hit 80 coming up on saturday. for you tomorrow in the city, 68 degrees. back to work for you. showers are gone after tonight. palo alto, 85. antioch, 84. morning cloud cover around pleasantton. vallejo 78. 80 tomorrow for mill valley.

petaluma 79. here is your extended forecast. no more rain chances after tonight. tuesday, wednesday, couple degrees cooler than average. thursday, we warm up. look at the weekend. saturday. 97degrees inland. close to 100 near the bit. will likely see some low 80s. towards sunday and monday, still pretty mild. we have been cloudy. we're about to get pretty toasty as we head toward next weekend. this is the day the bay area has been waiting for. we want to show you some areals just above where the grand opening is going to take place. allen martin will join me now also. allen, i am sure bewhen you, you haven't seen the first cars go -- behind you, any second they are going to do the chain cutting ceremony. >> reporter: juliette, not only have i not seen cars go by, i see chp cars that days peered. so i am pretty sure they are all staging on this side of the island getting ready for traffic to come east. they are also at the other

side, the oakland touchdown. once the chain cutting ceremony happens, then i am expecting, just anticipating that's when they'll tell us the exact time of when the bridge is going to e. we were all set for 5:00 o'clock tomorrow morning, but there were many people who have watched this process over the years, the different closures over the three previous labor day closings where they closed the bridge. one time was to get the s-curve moved into place. to get that open. all that work was in preparation for this very day. but we've seen them building enough buffer zones, the cushion, if you will, that if something were to go wrong, they still had enough time to meet their deadline. juliette, not only have they doin't this time, but it won't be 5:00 o'clock tomorrow morning. it will be some time tonight. >> i know. for our viewers at home wondering when it will open, especially for the labor day travelers who want to go over the bridge take us through the course -- bridge. take us through the opening ceremony. the classic cars are standing

by. we saw those. the first wave of drivers cross the span. is chp kind of in the area hold off any of the drivers that want to make that commute over when it finally opens? >> reporter: yeah. i kind of dare anybody to try to run that gauntlet. we have been told cal tran there try to send street sweepers. they have striped all the lanes, but they want to do one more run. chp will stage along the entrance of the bay bridge. oh, we have a visitor. that's what that noise s. chp is also going to pace cars as they come onto the bridge they don't want anybody going too fast. they don't want anybody going to slow either as phil matier pointed out. your inclination is to stomp and try to take a pick -- stop

and take a picture. >> the new bridge span includes that shoulder, but they don't want anyone pulling over to take pictures. as we look ate now, it is 5:26. if they go to the ceremony, maybe it will not open until the sun sets. sit will be a little bit dark of a view for people, but certainly gorgeous, nonetheless. chp also emphasizing that stopping on the side of the freeway for non-emergency purposes is illegal and dangerous. >> that's right. chp says you can't take photographs from the bridge brian, if you can push in and

maybe get aned idea of that one side saying welcome to the new bay bridge. it is indeed a new era of transportation. the bay bridge considered the workhorse of the bridges in the bay area. carries much more traffic than the others. the big dishes that you can see initially is not only just the toker and the way that single toker suspension span sits there, but we don't have a double decker on this side. the lanes are side by side. east and westbound traffic is parallel until you get to where the old s-curve was. a lot of people are glad that thing is gone. the bike and pedestrian path, not quite completed yet. once it's doin't will bring you to treasure island. a lot of people have asked, why can't they wring that lane all the way into the city. just keep going on the western span? when i know spoke to engineer, the chief engineer on this protect correct, what he told me is it's net quite that simple. they would like to do it.

comes down to money, of course. can't stick a path on one side of the bridge because it would be out of bounds. the bridge has to stay inbounds. so essentially they would have to put one on each side which might make sense. maybe we should start saiing our money. it is a good idea. this was only 6.4 billion. >> right. we have areal shots showing us all the dignitaries getting ready for the official chain cutting ceremony. allen, you're on top. you have the best view in town. i'm just curious, when the old bay bridge was closing, there were people up there kind of looking and taking note. anyone around you wanting to watch as the cars come by when they finally do. >> reporter: not so much this time. wednesday night when we were here we probably had 24, 25 people out just taking video and taking pictures.

not sew much this time because -- well, up until a few minutes ago, we didn't know that it was going to officially open tonight. so there will be traffic coming across. there will be photos, if you will. but the other thing, juliette to note is, the work has already started to deconstruct, not demolish, but deconstruct the old eastern span. they have actually been working six months behind the scenes mostly right underneath where the old span is to get ready to take that down. it's going to take about three years, more or less. the first phase will be taking part of the $100 million project down because what they have to do is basically start right in the middle. if you think about how they built it, they're going to do the exact on schism when they built it, they joined it -- opposite. we are anticipating that chain cutting ceremony any minute juliette. >> all right.

the day we've been waiting for. we leave you for cbs evening news. we'll be back for opening ceremony. see you then. strike against syria, the battle for congressional support. >> a vote against that resolution by congress, i think, would be catastrophic. >> glor: the white house works the phone this labor day. nancy cordes is on capitol hill. elizabeth palmer in the syrian capital of damascus. she did it! on her fifth attempt, diana nyad completes an historic swim from cuba to florida. elaine quijano is at the finish line. the designer drug that is killing people and canceling concerts. michelle miller tells us why molly is so dangerous. and scott pelley back to the beginning. >> good evening from our cbs news room in new york on this, the first broadcast of network television's first daily half hour news program. captioning sponsored by cbs