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Early Bridge Sketchs
In 1929, the California Legislature established the California Toll Bridge Authority with the responsibility of connecting San Francisco and Alameda County with a bridge -
Toll Bridge Authority
In 1930 The California legislature established the California Toll Bridge Authority with the responsibility of constructing a bridge between Oakland and SanFrancisco. -
Ground Breaking
Construction began on the logenst bridge in the world at the time. It took three years and five months to complete the Bay Bridge at a cost of 77 million dollars. -
Bridge design
In total fourteen designs were submitted for the 8.4 mile-long original Bay Bridge. A suspension bridge was chosen for the west span leading into San Francisco and a cantilever bridge was chosen for the east side with Yerba Buena Island connecting the two. -
Workforce
It took more than $8,300 men only to complete the bridge which came in at over 6 million underbudget. Workers at the time were paid$ 7.75 per hour. -
Build it And They Will Come
This amazing photograph showa the courage these men displayed while building the Bay Bridge. -
Towers Go Up
Workers finish construction on the four west span towers going into San Francisco as the Pacific Fleet comes into San Francisco with 12 battelships, 18 destroyers and 2 air craft carriers including the Arizona and the Saratoga. -
Cable Spining
After the towers were finished, catwalks were built from Yerba Buena Island to San Francisco to accomadate workers spinning the cable that would eventually hold the twin decks. Both of the 2 cables hold 17,464 individual wires compressed to a diameter of 28 inches. -
Starting to Look Like a Bridge
This birds eye view from San Francisco shows the massive scale of the project.. Two suspension spans covering 2,310 feet each. Each span connected by a concrete bridge called Charlie. -
Finishing the East Side
Nearing completion, the east side or cantilever section is the last part of the steel support to be completed which will hold the road way. -
Nearing Completion
Hoisting of the deck plates into their final position, this took crews 3 months to finish the west section. -
Completed
The Bay Bridge was completed on November 12, 1936 6 months ahead of schedule. President Roosevelt opened the bridge on the east side toll plaza. -
Bay Bridge Reconfigured
Originally configured to have auto trafic on the top deck and truck and train transport on the lower level, the bridge was reconfigured for 5 lanes to go westbound on the top deck and 5 lanes to go eastbound on the lower deck due to auto demand. -
Earthquake
At 5:04 pm on October 17 1989 as the third game of the World Series was just about to start between the Giants and the A's, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake occured causing the top deck of the bridge to fail. -
New East Span
After repairs were completed in 1989, it was realized the cantilever span would need to be replaced. Construction begin in 2002 on the worlds longest self suspension span. The new bridge is scheduled to be completed in spring of 2013.
