( CNN ) -- Vehicles began streaming across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge early Tuesday -- a day ahead of schedule -- after the completion of repairs to a crack in the structure 's east span . Commuters make the trek across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after it reopened Tuesday . Commuters began driving over the bridge around 6:40 a.m. PT ( 9:40 a.m . ET ) , shortly after Randy Iwasaki , director of the California Department of Transportation , announced the reopening at a news conference . `` The bridge has been inspected , and it is safer than when we closed it on Friday , '' Iwasaki said . Over the weekend , crews began repairing a `` significant crack '' that was found on the east span of the bridge during a planned closure for another project . The target time for reopening had been early Wednesday , but crews worked nonstop overnight to repair the eyebar beam , Iwasaki said . He thanked motorists for being patient . `` I know it 's been trying . I received a few e-mail notes , '' the official said . Iwasaki said some closures or detours near the bridge would remain in place a while longer , including those along northbound and southbound Interstate 880 . About 280,000 vehicles cross the landmark bridge every day , according to the department . The Bay Bridge was closed last week as part of a seismic retrofitting project that required cutting out and replacing a double-deck portion of the east span . Watch as the bridge needed big repairs » . A 50-foot section of the bridge collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake , prompting efforts to make it quake tolerant .
NEW : Bridge `` is safer than when we closed it on Friday , '' official says . California bridge closed last week for scheduled retrofitting . Workers discovered `` significant crack '' on east span of bridge . About 280,000 vehicles travel San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge daily .