The Golden Gate Bridge turns 75 this year, and in honor of her three quarters of a century of standing strong, she’s getting a facelift, or rather a nice nip and tuck. Over the next few months, the Golden Gate Bridge will undergo some resurfacing, re-grading and mild design changes—all of which will make for better Bridge biking in the days to come.Among the bike improvements are a re-grading of the approach to the Golden Gate, mainly the awkward hairpin turn to get on to the bike path. That means no more track-standing (unless you want to) or bumping elbows with the bi-directional packs of people. When finished, that whole area will be wider, smoother, and have new fences and lights. Yay!

And biking to the west side of the Bridge will be easier too. The current messy multi-use path to get under the Bridge will now be bike and pedestrian specific space, making for a much better mingling of people walking, biking, and taking pictures.

As you might imagine, the Bridge will be closed during these repairs. The west side shut down on Tuesday and will stay closed until April 1, weather permitting. But seeing as winter officially set in this week and the forecast calls for rain from here on out, a shared East Sidewalk won’t be nearly as congested as it was this summer. Happy Birthday, Bridge…and happy Bridge riding in the near future!