San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

[keeske]

A new concrete bridge is being build from the Oakland side towards SF, to lighten the load of what is said to be the bussiest bridge in the world.

Anybody has already seen any plans for the bridge?

Keeske

[hngcm]

it's not going to lighten the load, it's going to replace it

[Cheese Mmmmmmmmmmmm]

Information on the project:

http://www.newbaybridge.org/

Image of the finalized main span:

http://www.newbaybridge.org/media/opt1lg.gif

Enjoy! :cheers:

[bs_lover_boy]

How's construction going???

[firulais2005]

Any Updates?

[One Shot]

beautiful

[612bv3]

How's construction going???
-Construction has finally resumed after another problem. :sleepy:
-Costs has risen from $2.6 billion to $5.1 billion since 2001
Its official website => http://www.newbaybridge.org/

Most recent pictures I could find:
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/skyway3/P8110012.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/skyway3/P8110009.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/skyway3/7369D074.jpg.html
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/skyway3/7369D051.jpg

When Finish:
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/suspension_span_from_south_night.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bike_path_westbound.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bridge_from_east_night.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bridge_surface_cables.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bridge_underside.jpg
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/suspension_section_aerial_view.jpg

Current Bridge:
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/cantilever_at_sunset.jpg

[Phobos]

What will it happen to the old bridge?

[Bertez]

That is a beautiful bridge, though it would be excellent if they added some colour....

[OettingerCroat]

when the new bridge is fully finished the old one will be destroyed.

[odegaard]

when the new bridge is fully finished the old one will be destroyed.That's only half right. The bay bridge is actually 2 separate bridges but most people just think of it as being one bridge. There's one section that goes from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island. And the other continues from there to San Francisco. The section between San Francisco and the island will be kept. However it will be retrofitted (structurally reinforced).

but...

The section between the island and Oakland will be replaced. That's what you're seeing in the pics.

[officedweller]

Until I saw this pic I didn't know what "self-anchoring" meant (the bridge is described as a self-anchoring suspension bridge). I see from the pic that the cables loop around under the bridge deck - so I presume that the cables themselves serve to help stabilize or "anchor" the bridge without the need for anchors in bridge abuttments like you see on other suspension bridges.

http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bridge_underside.jpg

[IsaganiZenze]

it's really going to be a wide bridge huh? since its not going to be double decker anylonger, well for the first half, that's going to be really challenging when they have to re double deck it, to attach to the second half.

[Azn_chi_boi]

Why bother destroying the old one? That will cost a lot of money, just abandon the old one. Why not use both, like old one for traveling to Oakland(since its free) and new one to SF(since you need to pay toll)?

How strong can the new bridge withstand an earthqauke? How about the old one?

[crazyevildude]

The old one can't withstand another earthquake without retrofitting it - hence the, building a new one. To leave it open would make the building of the new one a little pointless.

[612bv3]

They also said that retrofitting the old bridge would cost as much as building a new one.

[mr_storms]

any recent photos of construction? I havent seen the construction in a while, so im interested in progres (or lack thereof :()

[bay_area]

it's really going to be a wide bridge huh?.
Its really wide(10 lanes) cause it's the busiest bridge in the US, carrying approximately 300,000 cars daily. The Golden Gate Bridge is our postcard to the world, but the Bay Bridge is the region's "Main Street."

Here are some shots from the original span's construction...

The approach ramps being built in the early 1930s..Oakland in the background. Today this spot is the most important freeway interchange in Northern California
http://www.alamedainfo.com/SF_Oakland_Bay_Bridge_CA_Ramps_PC.jpg

The Western Span leading into The City
http://www.alamedainfo.com/Bay_Bridge_PC_1.jpg

http://www.alamedainfo.com/Bay_Bridge_PC_9.jpg

The Eastern Span as its connected to Treasure Island
http://www.alamedainfo.com/Bay_Bridge_PC_21.jpg

http://www.alamedainfo.com/East_Bay_Bridge_PC_Cantilever.jpg

The San Francisco approach
http://www.alamedainfo.com/Bay_Bridge_PC_17B.jpg

[OettingerCroat]

it's really going to be a wide bridge huh? since its not going to be double decker anylonger, well for the first half, that's going to be really challenging when they have to re double deck it, to attach to the second half.

huh? re-double-deck it? they wont have to re-double-deck anything, the eastern span (the new one being built) will involve NO double-decks..... they'll build this one and demolish the old eastern span.

so as not to confuse anyone, the existing WESTERN SPAN will NOT be demolished. EASTERN will.

[mr_storms]

A good photo laying out the site and showing construction (thanks to bay_area for the great photo) :)
The Western span that is not being changed is on the top, while the eastern span on the bottom is
http://homepage.mac.com/mpieracci/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-12-20%2016.32.27%20-0800/Image-32CF027F52E711D9.jpg

[Nouvellecosse]

Its really wide(10 lanes) cause it's the busiest bridge in the US, carrying approximately 300,000 cars daily. The Golden Gate Bridge is our postcard to the world, but the Bay Bridge is the region's "Main Street."


Isn't the 14 lane George Washington Bridge between NYC and NJ the busiest road bridge in the world? According to nycroads.com (http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/george-washington/), the GWB has around 300,000 crossings per day, and according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge), the San-Oak Bay bridge has about 280,000 daily crossings. It stands to reason. Not only does the GWB have 4 more lanes, but it's in a larger and more densly populated area.

[AG]

The old one can't withstand another earthquake without retrofitting it - hence the, building a new one. To leave it open would make the building of the new one a little pointless.

Surprisingly, the existing eastern span of the bridge itself actually has been retrofitted to deal with any earthquakes that might damage the bridge while the new one is under construction. Work had been done on the caissons around the base of the bridge.

[OettingerCroat]

http://homepage.mac.com/mpieracci/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-12-20%2016.32.27%20-0800/Image-32CF027F52E711D9.jpg

i wanna make sure, of the new bridge, what see so far is really only half of it right? because the completed bridge will actually be two seperate causeways running side by side, correct?

so when people say the causeway portion is nearly complete, really only one of the causeways is nearly complete. the 2nd hasn't been started.

am i right?

[mr_storms]

Yes, If you look closely you can see the second support column on the right starting to rise. and the first causeway isnt exactly done either :).
http://www.newbaybridge.org/media/opt1lg.gif
From this render you can see that it will indeed be two seperate causeways

[OettingerCroat]

YAH YAH YAH ok i see it now, thx a lot man ;) A LOT

[mic of Orion]

Old Bridge should be turned on to hanging gardens with trees and forest grown where used to be cars, create green oasis of some sort ,sport and recreational facilities running tracks and bicycle ways small venues like plaza and walkways with atmosphere you get in Venice beach or Malibu in LA...
Just one of many great ideas..

impressive, I am amazed, looks brill, very nice project... (new bridge)

[612bv3]

i wanna make sure, of the new bridge, what see so far is really only half of it right? because the completed bridge will actually be two seperate causeways running side by side, correct?

so when people say the causeway portion is nearly complete, really only one of the causeways is nearly complete. the 2nd hasn't been started.

am i right?
The north-bound part of the causeway has already started. I think it started on September or October.

[OettingerCroat]

omg guys, i was driving of the bridge today, they are so far along!!!!! theyve already completed nearly equal parts of both causeways! theyre nearly to the big suspension column that will hold all the cables! my folks were driving on the way to Marin, so i couldnt exactly take any pictures.

but yah, just as a construction update, both causeways are close to being complete. maybe about 75-80%. I guess after that whole welding scandal, work resumed extremely quickly.

[Tazmaniadevil]

The Bay Bridge is my favorite in the SF area because of its great location entering downtown San Francisco. If you have never been to San Franciso, the approach after leaving the tunnel on Yerba Buena Island on the upper deck of the bridge leading into the city is spectacular.

[612bv3]

@Oettinger: It might seem like they're far along but it ain't opening soon. The suspension part has barely started and it wont be done anytime soon. Keep in mind that this is the first time they're attempting to build a self-anchored suspension bridge this large in an area where earthquakes are somewhat frequent. Personally, I would rather have a cable-stayed bridge than a self-anchored suspension.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/EasternSpanAlternativesDec10-2004.jpg

[612bv3]

Another informative picture. :)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/SFOBBEastSpan.jpg

[OettingerCroat]

great pics 612bv3

and i meant that the causeways are really moving along. i know we wont be driving on that thing for maybe another full decade. thats ridiculous but thank that austrian goat-sodomiser for it.

i had NO idea about any designs other than the Self-Anchored Suspension Span, Asymetrical Cable-stayed, and fully flat causeway. the two-tower cable-stayer is cool too

[Nouvellecosse]

The Bay Bridge is my favorite in the SF area because of its great location entering downtown San Francisco. If you have never been to San Franciso, the approach after leaving the tunnel on Yerba Buena Island on the upper deck of the bridge leading into the city is spectacular.

I know what you mean. I saw that approach on video, and was blown away without even being there. I was thinking about days after. :cheer:

[bay_area]

Isn't the 14 lane George Washington Bridge between NYC and NJ the busiest road bridge in the world? According to nycroads.com (http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/george-washington/), the GWB has around 300,000 crossings per day, and according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge), the San-Oak Bay bridge has about 280,000 daily crossings. It stands to reason. Not only does the GWB have 4 more lanes, but it's in a larger and more densly populated area.

LOL...we had an argument about this on SSP. The title of 1st goes back and forth between the 2 bridges.

CalTrans own website states that traffic volume at the Bay Bridge is 295,000-so your correct..it actually surpasses 300,000 on weekends. Bay Area oddity.

[612bv3]

A BRIDGE SO FAR
SKYWAY SOARS OVER BAY AS NEW EAST SPAN TAKES SHAPE
- Michael Cabanatuan
Sunday, December 18, 2005

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge_097pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge_183pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge1109.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge_242pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge_112pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/ba_baybridge_091pc.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/12/18/mn_how_it_looks.jpg

While political hand-wringing and bickering over the finances and design of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge have made news in the past year and a half, construction crews have been hard at work on the bay, making steady progress on the new 2.2-mile-long span that will link Oakland and Yerba Buena Island.

The new eastern span is really two bridges joined at midspan -- 1.4 miles of twin concrete viaducts, known as the skyway, sitting side-by-side; and a 1,860-foot-long, self-anchored, single-tower suspension bridge connecting with Yerba Buena Island.

---------------------------------

Think of it as a thin white line hovering above the bay waters, designers say, then bursting with a flourish into a grand spire of steel and cable.

Workers for Kiewit/FCI/Manson, the joint venture building the skyway segment, have been plowing ahead with construction of the skyway while work on the foundation of the suspension span was halted.

They have completed 83 percent of the skyway, said Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney, with 96 percent of the eastbound viaduct finished and 60 percent of the westbound viaduct done. Last week, workers began attaching the first of the prefabricated, 15-foot-wide panels that will make up the bicycle and pedestrian path affixed to the eastbound viaduct.

Since construction began in 2002, crews have driven 160 piles deep into the bay, constructed all of the 28 concrete-and-steel foundations that will hold up the skyway, built 21 of the 28 braces that will hold up the road deck, and fabricated 397 of the 452 wing-like concrete deck segments being built in Stockton. A total of 276 of those have been shipped by barge to the construction site and hoisted into place.

At the west end of the skyway, two 200-foot-tall temporary towers have been erected in the past several weeks, and two more will join them soon. Two will serve as temporary supports for the end of the skyway, remaining in place until the western sections of the roadway are connected and can stand on their own. The other pair will support the complicated single-tower suspension bridge while it is built.

Who will build the so-called signature segment of the span -- and how much it will cost -- will be determined early next year. On Feb. 1, Caltrans officials will open the sealed bids, and construction is scheduled to begin later in the year. Work on the skyway is scheduled to be completed in the April 2007. And the entire bridge is expected to open to traffic in late 2013 -- 24 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake made its construction necessary.

----------------------------------

HOW IT LOOKS NOW

Western span retrofit Completed June 2004 The seismic retrofit of the twin suspension bridges connecting Yerba Buena Island to the western approach in San Francisco is complete (caissons were strengthened). A project to resurface the deck will take place in 2006.

Existing eastern span piers are supported by 60-year-old timber piles.

(The existing eastern span is scheduled to be demolished starting in September 2014)

HOW IT WILL LOOK IN 2013

-- Western approach replacement.

Estimated completion August 2009

This milelong structure connects the twin suspension bridges with Interstate 80 in San Francisco. The approach and its six on- and off-ramps are being replaced (within its own footprint) while remaining in service. The project is 57 percent complete, including the Fremont/Folsom Street ramp, which opened April 1.

-- Yerba Buena Island transition structures.

Estimated completion November 2013

These structures, which are under design, will connect the eastern suspension bridge to Yerba Buena Island and transition eastbound and westbound traffic from a side-by-side orientation to a double-deck configuration compatible with the island tunnel and western span.

-- Self-anchored suspension bridge.

Estimated completion March 2012

The world's largest single-tower, selfanchored suspension bridge went out to bid on Aug. 1 and the sealed bids will be opened Feb. 1. The structure connects the skyway bridge to the island transition structures. The marine foundations are being constructed under a separate contract and expected to be complete in June 2008. The land-based foundation on Yerba Buena Island was also constructed under a separate contract and was completed in October 2004.

-- Skyway bridge

Estimated completion April 2007

Twin precast concrete segmental bridges are supported by huge piers and piles now visible in the bay. The skyway, which is 83 percent complete, will connect the Oakland touchdown with the self-anchored suspension bridge.

-- Oakland touchdown

Estimated completion November 2013

This structure, currently under design, will connect the skyway to Interstate 80 in Oakland.

Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/18/MNGQTG9V7S1.DTL

[mr_storms]

nice article, thanks for update

[OettingerCroat]

^^great great great stuff 612bv3, making me drool :eek2:

:colgate:
:cheers2:

[Azn_chi_boi]

Construction looking good, is the construction behind or ahead of its plan?

I-80 will be assign to this bridge right?

[mr_storms]

yes, this is I-80. And im not sure how its going, but its most likely behind schedule (and over budget) :(

[612bv3]

Let me add that it's way WAY WAAYYY OVERBUDGET.

I think a few years ago, this bridge was expected to open in 2006. Another 7 more years if there isn't anymore delays. :( How hard is it to build a bridge! I just hope it opens before 2020.

[612bv3]

I just visited the CalTrans website and I found these new construction pictures.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d104.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d003.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d005.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d007.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d008.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d016.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d019.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d020.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d021.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d023.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d025.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d026.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d031.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d034.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d038.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d041.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d048.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d051.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d067.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d072.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d074.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d076.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d081.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d084.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d087.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d102.jpg

[612bv3]

WEST APPROACH CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS from CalTrans
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d073.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d074.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d080.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d084.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d086.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d088.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d089.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d097.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d098.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d099.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d101.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d102.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d106.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d110.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d115.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d127.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d129.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d145.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d170.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d171.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060109/photos/7658d189.jpg

[612bv3]

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/safer/images/project_stages_1000.jpg

[dewback]

Caltrans loves to take pictures, huh?

[mr_storms]

nice update, thanks for pics

[ncon]

thanks for the Info :D

last dec I wetn there and see this bridge :cool:!

[OettingerCroat]

we need some aerial views of the new bridge. anyone have a helicopter?

btw, 612bv3, from when to when does that west approach diagram span?

[612bv3]

Summer 2003 to Winter 2009.

[612bv3]

Caltrans loves to take pictures, huh?
Yup, they like to show how much work they're doing, even though it's costing us a fortune.

[OettingerCroat]

TOWERING QUESTION -- WILL IT FINALLY BE BUILT?

Planners hope the Bay Bridge's new eastern span, beset by political squabbles since the 1989 earthquake, has cleared its final hurdle

When state officials open construction bids on Wednesday to build the tower for the new eastern half of the Bay Bridge, the target date to finish work will be 2013 -- 24 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake snapped the upper deck apart.

Instead of an earthquake-proof bridge ready for traffic in 2004 as first promised, what exists today is a half-finished project that stands as a symbol of the Bay Area's political inability to come together as a region even when lives and livelihoods are at risk.

There's no way to recapture the years lost when Bay Area leaders failed to put aside their own agendas in order to construct a safe bridge that carries 280,000 vehicles a day. Those delays also are part of the reason the project's estimated cost has more than quadrupled to $6.3 billion.

In the meantime, the most important highway in the region still depends on a bridge that has been strengthened to withstand the sort of temblor that closed it for a month in 1989 -- but nothing more severe.

"We had a hard time from the get-go trying to focus people on the need for speed, that this was a matter of seismic safety," said Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. "I don't think we ever made that sale."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When a magnitude 7.1 temblor struck the Bay Area on Oct. 17, 1989, the western half of the Bay Bridge, a brawny suspension bridge with four towers that march toward San Francisco from Yerba Buena Island, rode out the earthquake with little damage.
But the eastern half that lifts off from the mudflats of Oakland -- a trussed structure that resembles an enormous erector set -- had its seismic limitations exposed with deadly force. A 50-foot section of the upper deck collapsed onto the deck below. Two cars plunged into the chasm, and one driver was killed.

Though the bridge reopened in a month, six years passed before the California Department of Transportation decided that the eastern span should be replaced. First came the challenge of trying to find ways to retrofit a complicated 60-year-old structure. Top advisers to then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican from San Diego, were wary of wading into the contentious thicket of Bay Area politics.

"They figured all of us in the Bay Area painted our faces blue at night and climbed trees," one engineer recalled with a laugh.

Eventually, Wilson and his advisers agreed with engineers that a new bridge was the way to go. It was with fanfare that Caltrans in February 1997 introduced the span it wanted to build: a utilitarian viaduct that would cost roughly $1 billion and could be ready for traffic by 2004.

Another bridge was shown that day, one with cables fanning down from a tower to the deck. But such a flourish would add at least $200 million to the project -- and the state made clear who would pay.

"If the residents of the Bay Area desire an aesthetically enhanced bridge," Wilson told reporters, "the additional cost should be borne by the Bay Area."

Bay Area politicians agreed to raise tolls for a so-called signature tower, but they upped the ante: They wanted to select a design on their own. Caltrans granted the request as long as the decision was made by July.

Decision-making power was handed to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which consists of elected officials from around the Bay Area and controls the region's transportation money. The commission promptly appointed a task force; the task force promptly assembled a panel of engineers and architects to provide technical guidance.

Then came the hard part.

Public attention focused on what the bridge should look like and whether it should have a bike lane. The thorniest issue, though, was the location of the new span.

It could run slightly south of the existing structure, but that would require land needed by the thriving Port of Oakland. Or it could run slightly to the north -- and crowd a cluster of historic buildings the Navy owned on Yerba Buena Island.

By July, the task force and panel had held 14 public meetings and made several key decisions. The span would be a viaduct across the muddy shallows near Oakland. Visual oomph would be provided by a tower over the deeper water near Yerba Buena Island. And it would follow the path known as the northern alignment.

But Caltrans didn't get what it asked for: an actual design.

Instead, the advisory panel asked Caltrans to perform design work on several different bridge types so it could evaluate the construction feasibility and seismic strength.

Caltrans dutifully hired consultants and returned eight months later with six different schemes. The panel whittled down the options until two remained, each featuring a tower rising like a flagpole between the eastbound and westbound decks.

One was a cable-stayed bridge, the type the state had proposed to begin with. The other was a self-anchored suspension bridge.

The self-anchored structure is similar to a traditional suspension bridge, in which the roadway hangs from a pair of cables suspended between towers. But instead of burying the ends of the cables into anchorages, a self-anchored suspension bridge folds them into its deck.

As the advisory panel second- and third-guessed each aspect of the design, seismic issues seemed far away.

"A lot of the focus on the panel was the idea of a signature span -- 'Let's get this big, significant thing done,' '' said Christopher Arnold, a Palo Alto architect on the panel.

"If the engineers had been more insistent about engineering, things might have been different. But they would mumble something, and then the architects would swing back to aesthetics."

With one meeting left to go, the cable-stayed bridge was favored.

So on the weekend before the final advisory-panel meeting in May 1998, the designers working on the suspension bridge repackaged their design -- moving the tower closer to the island to create an asymmetrical silhouette. They also moved the main cable so that it would loop underneath the deck near the island, an innovation that has never been tried.

The design was a major change and lacked the engineering details that the panel had insisted on 10 months earlier. But the unique appearance carried the day. By a 12-7 vote, the panel selected the suspension bridge.

"We all felt it was a challenging design -- it is -- but it can be done," said Joseph Nicoletti, an engineer who co-chaired the panel. "That's what makes it interesting to engineers."

Arnold backed the cable-stayed design. "The novelty factor kicked in, especially with the engineers," he said of the final vote. "And everyone was getting a bit tired by then."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission made the choice official in June 1998, 15 months after the first task-force meeting. To make up for lost time, Caltrans set an ambitious schedule: Construction would begin in 2000, and opening day was set for 2004. The estimated cost: $1.4 billion.

The lone "no" vote came from Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, who was unhappy that the entrance to Oakland would be a marked by a viaduct rather than a tower.

San Francisco's two members abstained -- an ominous hint of what lay ahead.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was at this point that the region's need for a seismically safe bridge confronted the hard fact of life that all politics are local.
In the Bay Area of the 1990s, nobody played hardball politics better than Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco.

The mayor's stance on the bridge was no secret: Work on the eastern span should include projects tied to Brown's plans for his city. Most important, Brown wanted new ramps linking the bridge to Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island, which the U.S. Navy was transferring to city ownership.

But as the selection process moved forward, San Francisco received little in the way of concessions. The tight ramps from Treasure Island onto the bridge remained, for instance, because Caltrans saw them as something other than a seismic problem.

Brown saw a slap in the civic face -- and prime development sites imperiled by outsiders.

"Our representatives were essentially losing every battle," Brown said recently. "There was clearly an indifference to any San Francisco consideration. How could you design a bridge that wiped out ingress and egress for a new neighborhood?"

Though Brown earlier had endorsed the northern alignment, he now said it wasn't acceptable. And he wasn't the only disgruntled politician: East Bay leaders chimed in with their own complaints.

In Oakland, the mayor-elect, Jerry Brown, called for an international competition to produce "a structure that people seek out from all over the world."

Oakland Assemblyman Don Perata called for a regional election on a design that he said was "about as popular as New Coke."

The mayors of Emeryville and Berkeley demanded that the design be changed to include room for commuter trains.

But Willie Brown had one tactical advantage his East Bay allies lacked: the aggressive support of the Navy.

Naval officials, supporting Willie Brown's position that a northern alignment would intrude on the former military base, took the position that state engineers could not enter Yerba Buena Island to collect soil samples or do site surveys. As long as this was the case, design work on the tower could not begin.

On one occasion, naval officials called Caltrans to order a boat filled with engineers out of Navy waters. Meanwhile, Willie Brown's point person for the islands was taking regional officials on tours of the island in a golf cart, pointing out the supposed perils of the northern alignment.

As far as Brown is concerned, he and the Navy were simply protecting their interests.

"They were totally indifferent to the owners of the property," Brown said of Caltrans and regional officials. "I probably wouldn't have paid any attention to anything other than getting the bridge built ... if the plans had been friendly to Treasure Island."

Robert Pirie, former assistant secretary of the Navy, now suggests the Navy was taking its cues from the San Francisco mayor.

"Our guidance at the time was to help the local authorities as much as possible," Pirie said this month. "It was a dispute between the city and county of San Francisco -- Willie Brown, mainly -- and Caltrans, and we were in the middle."

When Gray Davis became governor in January 1999, the official design appeared doomed. Davis had been Jerry Brown's chief of staff when Brown was governor in the late '70s. More recently, Willie Brown was the most influential politician to endorse Davis when his gubernatorial bid seemed a longshot.

Known for taking a cautious approach to controversial issues, Davis was in no rush to take a stand. But in March, he brushed off his allies' pleas: "It's been 10 years since the earthquake, and we need to fix the bridge."

As for complaints about the design, Davis agreed something grander would be nice. On the other hand, he said, "it would be nice if it rained beer, too."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That should have ended the story: A new governor had ratified the outcome of a long public process.
Instead, the battle shifted to Washington, D.C. For the rest of 1999 and into 2000, Willie Brown and Davis pressed their cases before the Clinton administration. While one sought to block the plan, the other looked for ways to outflank the Navy. And White House staffers found themselves trying to make sense of a struggle rooted in engineering and economics 2,500 miles away.

"It was like a pendulum swinging back and forth," recalled Karen Skelton, who handled California issues for President Bill Clinton. "On one side, you had issues involving architecture, historic preservation, economic development ... on the other side was safety."

As his push to move the span stalled, Brown changed course. He called for a retrofit of the existing bridge instead of building a new one. And he added safety to his issues by seizing on one expert's claim that the approved tower was inherently unstable.

The warnings came from Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a UC Berkeley engineering professor. In 1997, when the search began for a new design, Astaneh attracted attention as part of a team proposing a sail-like tower. The proposal was rejected.

Now he insisted that because the self-anchored bridge's cable lacked a conventional anchorage, any severe jolt might cause it to collapse.

Caltrans dismisses Astaneh's thesis, as do seismic engineering experts. But Brown met with Astaneh and gravely pronounced the professor's claims "frightening, really frightening."

He also arranged a Washington meeting at which Astaneh could present his scenario to federal officials.

Meanwhile, Davis' staff and Caltrans engineers made the Beltway rounds looking for support. But California's congressional delegation showed no desire to intervene in what from afar looked like a dispute between the top-ranked Democrat in the state and the renowned power-broker whom the president himself once had dubbed "the real Slick Willie."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein was seen as the one state figure with the stature to break the impasse. She was lobbied by both sides -- and then called for studies of an additional bridge from the East Bay that could serve drivers headed south of San Francisco.

Nor were members of the congressional delegation, including Sens. Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, trying to smooth things out behind the scenes. "I had absolutely zero interaction with Boxer or Feinstein on the subject," Pirie recalled, "or any congressional representative."

What finally dislodged the impasse was a legal move by the federal Department of Transportation.

Skelton left the White House to become chief counsel for Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. There, she learned that the department could seize other agencies' land to make improvements to the nation's highway system.

The Bay Bridge is part of Interstate 80.

"It was a dusty old law," said Skelton, now a political consultant, "but it was still on the books for a purpose."

In the summer of 2000, the White House approved the transfer of land on Yerba Buena Island from the Navy to the highway administration so seismic work could be done on I-80 where it crosses San Francisco Bay.

Brown is now philosophical about the outcome. "At that stage of the game, we had played our hand out."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the suspension bridge design was chosen in 1998, engineers planned to start on the tower first. That way it would be finished at the same time as the viaduct, which is easier to build.
Instead, the impasse that kept engineers off Yerba Buena Island forced Caltrans to begin the viaduct first. This would have extended the construction schedule by two years even if everything else had gone as planned.

They didn't. The delays of the late '90s pushed the project into a much different environment than the one in which it was conceived.

The terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, made it difficult and pricey to insure high-profile projects such as bridges.

A prolonged construction boom in Asia caused the price of steel and concrete to soar. In the United States, other public works projects moved into line ahead of the Bay Bridge.

The unstated assumption of the eastern span saga -- that the world would wait for the Bay Area to make up its mind and resolve its disputes -- was proved wrong.

The latest delays came after the state invited contractors to compete to build the signature tower; the complex design and boom times elsewhere help explain why only one bidder stepped forward. And the lone bid in 2004 was $1.8 billion -- more than twice the budgeted amount.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger halted work on the foundation and called for a simpler design, but a funding compromise with the state Legislature last summer allowed the tower to proceed.

State officials hope that this will be the last substantial hurdle and that the new span will open in 2013. The projected price: $6.3 billion, nearly $5 billion above the 1998 estimate.

In the meantime, a major earthquake on either the San Andreas Fault or the Hayward Fault grows closer by the day. The only question is when it will occur -- and whether the cost of the delays on the Bay Bridge will be measured in dollars or lives.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bay Bridge timeline
1936: Bay Bridge opens. The upper deck is for automobiles, the lower deck for trains. Daily traffic is 21,000 vehicles.

1958: Train tracks are removed from bridge, clearing both decks for cars. Daily traffic is 53,000 vehicles.

Oct. 17, 1989: Loma Prieta earthquake snaps a section of the eastern span, killing one driver. Bridge is repaired within a month. Daily traffic is 286,000 vehicles.

December 1996: A panel of seismic experts concludes the eastern span should be replaced rather than retrofitted.

February 1997: Gov. Pete Wilson administration announces it wants to build an elevated skyway from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island that can be ready in seven years if everything goes smoothly. The administration also offers to build a more distinctive cable-stayed bridge if the Bay Area is willing to pay the extra cost. In either event, says Caltrans Director James W. van Loben Sels, "we must move ahead quickly on a solution that ensures the motoring public's safety."

March 18, 1997: The first meeting of the Bay Bridge Design Task Force takes place. The task force was created to select the design that Bay Area elected officials have agreed to finance through higher tolls on local bridges. It consists of six elected officials and one member of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. It is led by Alameda County Supervisor Mary King, who says her job is "to develop a consensus recommendation on a design option" -- in other words, "chocolate fudge on top of the vanilla ice cream bridge that the governor guaranteed us."

July 1997: Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco writes King, stating that he supports placing the new span north of the existing bridge because "the economic development opportunities to the Port of Oakland outweigh the economic opportunities to San Francisco at Yerba Buena Island."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission sends 17 recommendations to Caltrans. One recommendation: Delay choice of a design until Caltrans takes several bridge schemes to "approximately the 30 percent design stage so that reliable information as to seismic performance, cost, visual design and other issues can be obtained."

May 1998: Advisory panel of engineers and architects recommends a suspension bridge with five lanes of traffic hanging from each side of a 525-foot tower. The panel also recommends a 12-foot-wide lane for pedestrians and bicycles -- the result of a tenacious lobbying campaign by bicycle advocates.

June 1998: Ten East Bay elected officials send a letter to King complaining that the task force "has not produced a world-class design that establishes a sense of gateway and place for the East Bay."

Mayor-elect Jerry Brown of Oakland makes the same complaint in a Chronicle opinion piece, saying the approved design "speaks of mediocrity, not greatness. ... We must create a spectacular structure that expresses the daring of human ingenuity and symbolizes the splendor of Oakland and the East Bay."

June 24, 1998: The commission selects the suspension bridge, which has an estimated cost of $1.4 billion and a 2004 opening date. But Treasure Island-friendly ramps are left out of the project.

July 1998: Willie Brown now says a northern alignment will be ruinous to Yerba Buena Island -- and the Navy bars Caltrans from visiting the island to collect geological information. This makes it impossible to begin design of the tower or the western end of the eastern span.

November 1998: Residents of San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley vote that passenger rail service should be "part of the redesign of the Bay Bridge" -- an advisory measure initiated by Willie Brown.

February 1999: The Bay Bridge Design Task Force and its advisory panel reconvene to hear the complaints being made by San Francisco and the Navy.

The approved design "is hopelessly delayed due to a variety of factors," says Annemarie Conroy, Mayor Willie Brown's project manager for Treasure Island. With her is Rear Adm. Ronne Froman, who says the Navy will oppose the approved alignment because "the proposed northern alignment effectively destroys the ability of the city to redevelop the Yerba Buena property to its fullest potential." Neither Conroy nor Froman mentions the potential danger of earthquakes.

March 1999: New Gov. Gray Davis says he supports the approved design.

July 1999: Davis sends a letter to the secretary of the Navy protesting "the Navy's refusal to permit geological testing on Yerba Buena Island," because "every day of delay in completing this seismic safety project courts another disaster."

May 2000: With the approval of White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, the Department of Transportation takes the disputed land on Treasure Island from the U.S. Navy and clears the way for the approved design to proceed.

2002: Construction begins on the new eastern span. But with the estimated cost now at $2.6 billion, and a target opening date of 2007, state legislators demand explanations for the setbacks. A California State Auditor report attributes part of the problem to the Bay Area's choice of a "signature" design. It also says that as a result of actions by the Navy, "the design and environmental process for the eastern span was delayed by nearly two years."

May 2004: The lone bid to build the eastern span's tower is $1.8 billion -- more than twice the $733 million most recently projected. Bridge estimate now tops $5.5 billion. The Schwarzenegger administration rejects the bid.

December 2004: Schwarzenegger proposes making the entire bridge a skyway, saying that changing the design can save $400 million and trim a year off the construction schedule -- even though the proposed scheme has neither a design nor environmental approvals.

June 2005: State Legislature approves $4 bridge toll beginning in 2007 that will allow the tower to remain; as a result, Bay Area commuters will pay 80 percent of the bridge project, rather than the 50 percent originally agreed upon.

March 22, 2006: State to open new bids from construction firms to build eastern span tower.

[OettingerCroat]

TOWERING QUESTION -- WILL IT FINALLY BE BUILT?

Planners hope the Bay Bridge's new eastern span, beset by political squabbles since the 1989 earthquake, has cleared its final hurdle

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/03/21/mn_ns_baybridge_0086a_f.jpg

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/03/21/mn_bridge.jpg

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/03/21/mn_span.jpg

[mr_storms]

I was on it this saturday going towards SF, which meant I was on it for a long time :) (although not nearly as long as I was waiting in the maze grrrrrr). and got to check out the progress, which isnt bad. No pics though, didnt have camera or I would have

[Skyman]

WOW! One more beautiful bridge in our city, I'm very happy to see it in the progress of construction, hope we'll see it soon built

[czm3]

If you think that is bad, dont ever go to Boston.....its much worse here. Our highway project started in 1984 and is still incomplete.

[612bv3]

Bay Bridge bids studied in haste
Come what may, eastern portion won't be completed until at least 2013
By Erik N. Nelson, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
With a $1.43 billion low bid in hand for the long-delayed signature span of the Bay Bridge, Caltrans is working double time to verify the details of the bid by a joint venture whose members have built some of the world's more impressive structures, including the original Bay Bridge, which opened in 1936 six months ahead of schedule.

Caltrans also will scrutinize the much higher bid by a consortium led by Bay Bridge skyway builder Kiewit Pacific Co., which, even if it doesn't win, could earn the group a $5 million stipend.

Delayed a decade by politics, over-optimistic cost estimates and the Bay Area's aesthetic sensibilities, the project could be launched by late April. Construction on the final phase of the $6.3 billion effort to build a more earthquake-worthy bridge connecting Oakland to Yerba Buena probably won't begin for another year, however, and won't be completed until 2013 — 24 years after a roadway on the eastern span collapsed, during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The event killed a motorist and prompted the effort to provide a stronger Bay Bridge.

To meet that commitment of vetting the project's two bids within 30 days — half the normal period — the transportation agency's bridge experts are now poring over cost estimates, blueprints and subcontractors' curricula Vitae. They have to check thousands of calculations and assumptions that went into the likely winning bid by Pennsylvania-based American Bridge Co. and its Orange County-based joint venture partner, Fluor Corp.

"The key is to find out whether they are competent, credible contractors," said Bart Ney, Caltrans' spokesman for Bay Bridge projects. But both groups that submitted bids are well-known both in bridge-building circles and the realm of massive public works projects.

American Bridge boasts building the largest structures in the world, and then repeating the same feat. Founded in 1870, in 1929 the company's ironworkers bolted and welded together New York's Chrysler Building, then the world's tallest building. In 1971, American started building the Sears Tower in Chicago, which would rise to a world-topping 1,454 feet. Among its California projects are the old Carqinez Strait bridges, built in 1927 and 1958, and Disneyland's Matterhorn rollercoaster in 1959.

The old Bay Bridge itself, despite its better-known Golden Gate cousin, was considered one of the engineering wonders of the world for decades after its 1936 opening.

Asked whether he felt the low bid proved the state should have taken the lone bid two years ago, American Bridge Chief Executive Officer Bob Luffy said he'd rather worry about getting the project into gear.

"We don't waste time on vindication," Luffy said. "A lot of people felt we had a very fat job and we hadn't bid it squarely or fairly. The fact is, we bid it straight. We always do."

Kiewit, besides coming in with a much higher $1.68 billion bid, is known locally for the $1 billion skyway project, which has been troubled with delays, cost overruns and even an FBI criminal investigation — since dropped — into charges that welders were rushed to the point of compromising bridge integrity and worker safety. Kiewit is also part of the joint venture doing Boston's "Big Dig" highway project, widely seen as one of history's worst examples of public works run amok.

Kiewit, "as a matter of company policy," does not comment on any bid until the project has been awarded, said Kent Grisham, spokesman for the Vancouver, Wash.-based company.

Caltrans officials will scrutinize both bids to make sure they are realistic and comply with contract requirements, Ney said.

"We are going to be looking to make sure that their bonding is in place. We'll be making sure that their subcontractors are prequalified where needed." The bids also will have to make an effort to provide work for businesses run by disabled veterans and comply with all state and federal contract laws, Ney said.

After receiving a lone $1.4 billion bid in 2004, Caltrans' planners went to great lengths to encourage other bidders. They offered the $5 million stipend, they extended bidding and construction deadlines and met with interested contractors in Japan, China and other far-flung locales to sell the project and make clear what California needed in a suspension bridge.

After the contract is awarded at an event Caltrans is already planning, the winning contractor will begin setting up offices in Caltrans' construction yard on Burma Road in the shadow of the Bay Bridge approach ramps.

Ney said the stipend was not unprecedented, but by presstime did not provide any other examples where losing Caltrans project bidders were paid several million dollars.

The planned 1,800-foot-long eastern suspension span, with its uncommon self-anchored design and tower rising more than 500 feet above the water, will contain enough steel to build 10 Eiffel Towers, according to a Caltrans fact sheet. The bridge will connect the 1.5-mile skyway, now under construction, to Yerba Buena Island and the already-retrofitted western suspension span that connects the island to San Francisco.

[OettingerCroat]

BAY BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: PHOTOS

FROM OAKLAND TO YERBA BUENA

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d025.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d026.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d027.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d028.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d029.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d030.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d031.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d032.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d033.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d034.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d035.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d036.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d038.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d039.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d040.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d041.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d042.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d043.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d044.jpg


FROM YERBA BUENA TO OAKLAND

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d057.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d058.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d059.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d060.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d061.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d062.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d063.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d064.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d065.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d066.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d067.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d068.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d069.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d070.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d071.jpg


ABOVE OAKLAND

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d072.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d073.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d074.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d075.jpg http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060406_sfobb/photos/7749d077.jpg

:cheers2:

[OettingerCroat]

BAY BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: RENDERINGS

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/SAS.jpg
New Eastern Span looking North

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/SAS_aerial.jpg
Aerial View

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/SAS-from-TI.jpg
View from Below

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/Tower-looking-east_BCDCVW6.jpg
View from deck of the new Eastern Span looking towards Oakland

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/bike_path_westbound.jpg
View from Pedestrian Path looking towards Yerba Buena Island

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/images/eastbound_suspension.jpg
View from deck of the new Eastern Span at Night

:cheers2:

[OettingerCroat]

http://www.baybridgeinfo.org/Editor/assets/sas3.jpg

The Self-Anchored Suspension Span:
Project Overview

Located east of Yerba Buena Island (YBI), the Self-Anchored Suspension (SAS) span will be the signature span of the new Bay Bridge. Traditional main cable suspension bridges have twin cables with smaller suspender cables connected to them, which hold up the roadbed and are anchored to separate structures in the ground. There is only one main cable on the new Self-Anchored Suspension (SAS) span, which will be anchored to the deck itself and will wrap around the west end of the structure and connect back into the deck.

The SAS will be aligned to the north of the existing bridge, providing motorists traveling eastbound and westbound on the new East Span expansive views of San Francisco Bay Area. The design features state-of-the-art seismic safety elements and will provide the East Span with a modern, streamlined appearance. When complete, it will be the largest single tower, self-anchored suspension bridge in the world. The span will provide new vistas for motorists traversing the bridge, as they pass under an angled canopy of suspension cables. Because the East Span will have two parallel decks, motorists will enjoy panoramic views of the East Bay while traveling eastbound, and of the San Francisco skyline and the Marin Headlands while traveling westbound.

The new Self-Anchored Suspension span is meant to echo the existing towers of the West Span, as well as the towers on the Golden Gate Bridge. All vertical elements of the span, including the tower, piers and lights, have been designed to emphasize the clean modern lines of the structure. To add to its distinctiveness, the asymmetrical suspension span will have a longer forward span (east of the tower), which will provide a more gradual transition from the gently sloping Skyway, and will give the new East Span a unique silhouette. The single steel tower is the same height as the highest tower on the bridge’s West Span.

Rising 525 feet above mean sea level and embedded in rock, the single-tower span is designed to withstand ground motions caused by a massive earthquake. The four separate legs will be connected by linker beams, which function in the same way as a fuse in an electrical circuit. The linker beams will absorb most of the impact from an earthquake, preventing damage to the tower legs. In addition, if one of the legs is damaged, the other legs will keep the bridge standing.

[Scruffy88]

So the causeway has lots or work down but no visible anything from the tower yet huh

[OettingerCroat]

yes, thats correct. The skyway is around 90% complete now.

And the first adjoining part of the tower's cables was installed on February 8th-9th. It is a 1700 ton steel section, placed on the eastbound direction, on the side of construction closest to Yerba Buena Island. it was cast in portland, Oregon, and placed on a barge down to the Bay.

if you look at the second group of pictures i posted, heading from the island back to Oakland, in the first pics you can see that the farthest section of the eastbound side is a darker grey than the rest of the bridge; thats because its made of steel.

thats the only "part" of the tower complete thus far, the adjoining section of one suspension cable :lol:.

not to worry though, the bridge will be ready for traffic in 2013, a quarter century after the old one was deemed seismically lacking!!! :hahano:

[Scruffy88]

not to worry though, the bridge will be ready for traffic in 2013, a quarter century after the old one was deemed seismically lacking!!! :hahano:[/QUOTE]


Nothing like rushing for the safety of the citizens

[612bv3]

I can't wait to see the tower going up.

[Alvaro0127]

Está más moderno... pero tiene un aspecto "indsutrial" que no me gusta :P El otro es tán besho!!

[OettingerCroat]

thank god that i speak spanish ;)

alvaro says its very modern, but it has an "industrial" aspect that he doesnt like. The rest is very "besho."

alvaro, qué es "besho"? ¿Habla Francés?

[bay_area]

I understood everything except "besho"...LOL

[ozscorpio7]

I understood everything except "besho"...LOL


besho = bello , is a weird word used for beautiful , like stuff=thing or cuz=because. got any more doubts about spanish im your guy.

BTW that bridge is the bridge Oakland deserves, at last. nice looking bridge

i dont know what does he mean by Industrial.

the old bridge looks industrial .this one doesn't , it looks modern. :)

[firulais2005]

HEY does anyone have updates??

[trojans14]

its nice to see that theyre building a better looking eastern span. the current one looks pretty ugly IMO.

[bay_area]

thanx ozscorpio.

trojan,
if it werent for the fact that it could collapse during any future quake-it wouldnt be replaced. looks arent so important-there are countless cantilever bridges all over the world that look just like it.

[dougtheengineer]

Great construction photos for the suspension section! Its neat to see the old pictures.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

LOL...we had an argument about this on SSP. The title of 1st goes back and forth between the 2 bridges.

CalTrans own website states that traffic volume at the Bay Bridge is 295,000-so your correct..it actually surpasses 300,000 on weekends. Bay Area oddity.

2 words

tahoe traffic

the reason that if u live in sacramento you dont go on I-80 or the 99 on fridays and sundays

[tadeu]

cool

[arturo]

I understood everything except "besho"...LOL

"besho" is the spelling of "bello" (beautiful) as it is pronounced in some South American nations, esp. Argentina and Uruguay. There, the "ll" is pronounced like "sh." This is an example of onomatopoeia.

[Armon]

Here is an update

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061014/d021.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061014/d133.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060915/d004.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060830/d044.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060830/d045.jpg

That structure behind the boat is where the suspension tower peir will be

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/060915/d133.jpg

[King-Krunch]

Thanks for the update :okay:

[RSG]

How much does this cost? Hiring those cranes would cost a fortune.

How many lanes will it have compared with the old bridge?

Oh and it looks great.

[Armon]

How much does this cost? Hiring those cranes would cost a fortune.

How many lanes will it have compared with the old bridge?

Oh and it looks great.


Its cost $6 Billion it build the whole thing. ( I think its the single most expensive bridge project in the US)

It has the same number of lane as the old one, but there is now a emergence lane and a pedestrian walk way.

It been delayed even more because of funding its going to finish in 2015

[TopperCity]

I think it's kinda unpleasant to see the two unmatched designs of the old and new bridges side by side. No sense of geometry except for the functionality.

[Armon]

I think it's kinda unpleasant to see the two unmatched designs of the old and new bridges side by side. No sense of geometry except for the functionality.


The old bridge is gonna be demolished when the new one is done.

[TopperCity]

aah! That makes sense. I never liked that double-deck bridge in the first place.

San Francisco is now going to look even better.

[Armon]

The skyway section of the bridge is almost done.
The last section of it goes in Friday (dec/8)

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/12/05/ba_baybridgegrf.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d060.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d079.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d092.jpg

The last pier of the skyway foundation being layed

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d044.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d065.jpg

The foundations of the suspension bridge tower being layed

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d028.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d006.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061128/d001.jpg

[Calvin W]

So only 7 more years to go then. At this rate thew will be renovating/upgrading the first sections by the time the last section is complete.

[gladisimo]

Wow, this project is gonna take a while...

The new bridge will be better than the old one aesthetically. Can't wait for it to be completed, the transition from a one-leveled bridge to a two-leveled one will be special, if not unique. Anyways, dont know if it's been covered, but they say retrofitting the old bridge will give it only about 30 years of life, while building a new one will give it 75 years.

Either way, for those still curious, the bridge is counted as one bridge, but is actually 3 bridges. The section from SF to Yerba Buena is actually two separate suspension bridges, with the huge concrete tower being a common anchorage. (Back in the 1930s, when it was built, it was an engineering marvel)

[Armon]

update

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d096.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d190.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d091.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d239.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d032.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d024.jpg

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061214/d137.jpg

[King-Krunch]

...

[612bv3]

I'm really glad they're done with the skyway. It took really long, but it's now time to see the tower rise. I don't remember the original completion date for this bridge. Was it 2006? 2010?

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

its northern cali caltrans, they cant do anything on time or on budget after 1960

[JoshYent]

nice bridge! i like the side by side set up of it, as opposed to a double decker....

[gladisimo]

I'm really glad they're done with the skyway. It took really long, but it's now time to see the tower rise. I don't remember the original completion date for this bridge. Was it 2006? 2010?

I think it is slated for 2013.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

so am i the only person who is going to miss the old cantelivered span?

[Armon]

so am i the only person who is going to miss the old cantelivered span?

yea

[copco]

I love San Francisco: a very fascinating place.
It is a pity they are going to replace the Emeryville side of the Bay Bridge; as far as the aesthetic aspect is concerned, it seems to me the new concrete bridge cannot compete with the old one. Fortunately they do not plan to replace the San Francisco side of the bridge, isn't it?
After the Golden Gate, that bridge is the other symbol of the city.

[Nivek]

The canteliver bridge looks aweful...glad that they replacing it..

[Taylorhoge]

I like those pictures of the new brodge with fog.what has been completed so far?

[Armon]

I like those pictures of the new brodge with fog.what has been completed so far?

The skyway(every thing except the suspension part) is complete, construction on the self anchored suspension bridge is just starting.

[Reptilikus]

Does anyone know now the old bridge i going to be removed? I surpose the can't blow it away...

[OettingerCroat]

^^ it will be disassembled over the course of 10 months following the end of construction of the new bridge

[OettingerCroat]

info from Caltrans:

The Current East Span of the Bay Bridge will be dismantled and recycled in a very similar way as the the Carquinez Bridge, which is currently being dismantled. Stay tuned to this website for timelapse photography of the Carquinez Demolition and more detailed information regarding the East Span of the Bay Bridge demolition, scheduled for approximately 2015.

[OettingerCroat]

im reading the website now, you know this bridge was supposed to be completed BY 2007??? shit i might have been driving on it by now, instead i must wait till 2013... and it wont look cool driving on it till the old one is torn down in 2015! thanks schwarzenegger.

[OettingerCroat]

East Span construction photos: July 13th, 2007

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midendian/sets/72157600827569927/

:cheers2:

[HARTride 2012]

The canteliver bridge looks aweful...glad that they replacing it..

Agreed. The current cantevelier is AWFUL, UGLY. And above all, not safe against eartquakes. The new span will be able to better withstand quakes t a certain magnitude.

im reading the website now, you know this bridge was supposed to be completed BY 2007??? shit i might have been driving on it by now, instead i must wait till 2013... and it wont look cool driving on it till the old one is torn down in 2015! thanks schwarzenegger.

Yep, I hate it when those politicians mess with infrastructure projcts like this bridge. Its absloutely horrendous, unacceptable. I don't ever want to see this majestic bridge collapse twenty years down the road because of shoddy political red tape.

[Gary_A_Hill]

its northern cali caltrans, they cant do anything on time or on budget after 1960

CalTrans is not responsible for the delay. It was primarily caused by local politicians bickering about the bridge design and demanding (especially Jerry Brown) a "signature" bridge. That and the other Mayor Brown (Willie, of S. F.) trying to change the location of route on Treasure Island. All this delayed the project by many years, and gave us the most expensive type of bridge proposed, a type not dictated by engineering necessity but by politics.

[HARTride 2012]

CalTrans is not responsible for the delay. It was primarily caused by local politicians bickering about the bridge design and demanding (especially Jerry Brown) a "signature" bridge. That and the other Mayor Brown (Willie, of S. F.) trying to change the location of route on Treasure Island. All this delayed the project by many years, and gave us the most expensive type of bridge proposed, a type not dictated by engineering necessity but by politics.

Don't forget the crap Gov. Arnie pulled off. I'm not surprised that the local politicians tried to toy around with the bridge too.

[jamesinclair]

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/061213/photos/7632d067.jpg



Is it just me, or does that hole seem like it would have made for a great rail line?

[OakRidge]

It's just you.

[Armon]

update
Well work on the self anchored suspension bridge has seem to have started.
Pic from 7/7/07 (all pic from cal trans website (http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/))

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d002.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d017.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d029.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d024.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d033.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d034.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d050.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d100.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d103.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d114.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d121.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070709/d131.jpg

[Armon]

The closed bay bridge(all pictures from flickr)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1018/1307035774_766d1af7de_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1313/1306153373_bcfc08276a_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1190/1307034932_1749083d0a_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1155/1306151233_b3f27db1c9_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1249/1306153705_b340934544_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1277/1307035258_91aac84d8b_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1175/1292771161_640555a4eb_b.jpg

[I-275westcoastfl]

Why'd they close it??

[OettingerCroat]

Why'd they close it??

they are replacing the deck

[jarbury]

Wow how long was it closed for? Traffic would have been a nightmare on alternative routes I guess?

[gladisimo]

^^ It's still closed. I think 8pm Friday to 5am Tuesday.

There are 4 alternative routes.

1) Golden Gate/Richmond-San Rafael (which is ok one way, but 9 dollars back to SF

2) San Mateo Bridge, best option for car

3) Dumbarton Bridge (More like an alternative for the San Mateo bridge since people who need to cross the bay will be flooding the bridge

4) BART, of course (and ferries)

[jchernin]

^ actually traffic hasnt been too bad. holiday weekends tend to have lower traffic. plus they banged the fact they were closing the bridge into our heads weeks ahead of time (till i was seeing sliding bridge decks in my sleep).

nice pix of the empty bridge. hopefully theyll get the bridge open 2morrow morning

[OettingerCroat]

is the entire bridge closed or just one of the two spans? what happens to the poor ppl on Yerba Buena? lol

[Armon]

is the entire bridge closed or just one of the two spans? what happens to the poor ppl on Yerba Buena? lol

The whole thing is closed, I guess the people on treasure island have to use ferries.

[Calvin W]

Slowly but surely this new connection is coming together. May not be finished in my lifetime but it will be finished in someones lifetime!

[Gary_A_Hill]

The whole thing is closed, I guess the people on treasure island have to use ferries.

Not true. The suspension bridge connecting Yerba Buena
and Treasure Island to San Francisco was kept open for
local traffic, buses and cars with permits. The residents
of Treasure Island pretended they were cut off, however,
as an excuse to throw a party.

[hoosier]

The new span is lower than the existing one. Anybody know why?

[jchernin]

^ prob to save $

[gladisimo]

I'm guessing design and money. The physics of the two bridges work differently, and I guess (hope) the design of the new bridge is for a smoother ride the whole way through. Currently, you have a straight section of the bridge (coming from SF), then near the end, there's a curve that's rather sharp and abrupt (not smooth), causing many unsuspecting people to brake.

[Armon]

from 8/15/07(ct website)

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d025.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d032.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d042.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d083.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d087.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d085.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815c/d092.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815b/d0362.jpg
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/photography/images/070815b/d043.jpg

[HARTride 2012]

^^
Neat pics. I heard they put the last segments into place for the skyway portion. Is this true?

[Armon]

^^
Neat pics. I heard they put the last segments into place for the skyway portion. Is this true?


Yea the skyway is done, the construction you see in the pictures is the beginning of the suspension bridge.

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

i still think this bridge looks horrible. Anyway, for those who say caltrans isnt responsible, remember the 580/80 interchange near stoneridge, that STARTED construction before i was born and was only finished a few years ago.


Caltrans in norcal cant get anything done on time. Im suprised this is moving along as fast as it is. AND the fact that you have survived without the bridge for this long kinda says you dont NEED the bridge, so why spend billions building something that looks almost worse than the old bridge, using unstable technology to do it?

[HARTride 2012]

i still think this bridge looks horrible. Anyway, for those who say caltrans isnt responsible, remember the 580/80 interchange near stoneridge, that STARTED construction before i was born and was only finished a few years ago.


Caltrans in norcal cant get anything done on time. Im suprised this is moving along as fast as it is. AND the fact that you have survived without the bridge for this long kinda says you dont NEED the bridge, so why spend billions building something that looks almost worse than the old bridge, using unstable technology to do it?

Remember, its not just CalTrans on the bridge. The local and state politicians kept playing around with the project as if it were a toy.

[TICONLA1]

The new span is lower than the existing one. Anybody know why?

It's an optical illusion, Well partially, what's been done is the grade of the roadway has been made more "gentle" or gradual, the elevation at both the new and old mainspans is the same, 210' above mean, (average) sea level, the minimum for an active ship navigation channel, although not many ocean going ships come in through this channel anymore.

[jchernin]

i still think this bridge looks horrible. Anyway, for those who say caltrans isnt responsible, remember the 580/80 interchange near stoneridge, that STARTED construction before i was born and was only finished a few years ago.


Caltrans in norcal cant get anything done on time. Im suprised this is moving along as fast as it is. AND the fact that you have survived without the bridge for this long kinda says you dont NEED the bridge, so why spend billions building something that looks almost worse than the old bridge, using unstable technology to do it?

how can u say the bridge "looks horrible"? for one thing, its not even built yet, so your soley going off renderings. i imagine if and when u see this beauty for urself soaring hundreds of feet above the bay u might change ur mind. second, the design was selected as best from a competition:

"The self-anchored suspension (SAS) design was selected in 1998 following an international design competition to give the bridge a "signature" look."
(newbaybridge.org)

"The MacDonald/Weidlinger team won a limited design competition against the team of H2L2 Architects and T.Y. Lin's Seattle office." (donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com)

the architects (donald macdonald (http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com)) developed "ten self-anchoring suspension conceptual bridge designs, different tower structures, cabling systems and deck profiles. These concepts were tested for structural integrity and aesthetics." (donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com) they then held about ten public meetings to help get feedback on which should be the final design. the addition of the bike and pedestrian path for example is the result of such meetings.

thats why when arnold tried to scrap the single-tower design and just go with the causeway, there was so much rebellion in the bay area. we picked this bridge!

yea, ur right in that it takes a long time to get things done, but its no different from socal. or seattle (light rail was voted in in 1996 and wont be finished summer 2009). want me to bring up la light rail projects?

some bridge concepts:

(all photos are from the donald macdonald website)
http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con1.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con2.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con7.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con10.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con8.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con4.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con6.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con9.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con11.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_con5.jpg

here u can see they have the single tower concept with a different cabling system
http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_cabling1.jpg

and some bonus images of the winning design under construction that uve already probably seen:

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_over1.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_over3.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_over2.jpg

http://www.donaldmacdonaldarchitects.com/SFOBB/east_images/t_BBeast_over5.jpg

these are from newbaybridge.org:

http://www.newbaybridge.org/media/opt1lg.gif

http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/long_view_day_from_east.jpg

isnt this sexy?!?
http://www.newbaybridge.org/photo_galleries/misc/bike_path_westbound.jpg

and lastly, courtesy the mtc:
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/images/nubridg/sfobb_night.jpg

[Jibran]

beautiful, love it

[RON-E]

i heard there were delays, hopefully not to bad, when is completion expected?

[HARTride 2012]

^^
I think there was an earlier post about that. Right now, its 2013 or 2014.

[Skyman]

Looks great

[OneRinconHill]

I'm glad they picked the design that they did, and the only reason why it looks so unattractive now is that, first off it's unfinished, and second of all, it's right next to the old bridge, which is half the size because of it's double decks, so it's gonna look pretty funny. Wasn't the original completion date somewhere in last year though? It's probably going to take an even longer time to finish the new bay bridge than what they're predicting now knowing all the private companies and caltrans.

[gladisimo]

A bit off topic, but if there are many bay area people here, does anyone know if they're extending the 380?

I saw a lot of equipment and trucks gathering over there recently.

(BTW, 380 connects 101 and 280 at San Bruno)

[WonderlandPark]

As others have said, Caltrans in Norcal sucks. I know this project got jerked around at the state level, but other projects up there also move at a glacial pace. Like the rebuilding after the quake. LA didn't put up with shit and we got our freeways up in months, and it wasn't just the famous 14-5 interchange, which was totally gone and on the news, it was also the 10 in mid city and the 118 in the Valley which totally collapsed. You guys took friggin 9 years to get the Cypress rebuilt. I am also shocked at how long the Benicia Bridge is taking. The Bay Bridge replacement is truly the Big Dig of the West Coast, taking waaaaaaay to long and costing waaaaaaay too much for what it is.

Bridges in quake zones and mud soil are built all the time--and have been done for the last few decades and over far, far bigger spans than this thing. Look at a listing for the bridges of Japan, for example, all over big water expanses, in quake country, in shallow water, crappy soils, and with Typhoons to consider, too. All of that in an expensive society to build things, high labor and materials costs and high engineering standards. Makes you wonder.

[Gary_A_Hill]

... thats why when arnold tried to scrap the single-tower design and just go with the causeway, there was so much rebellion in the bay area. we picked this bridge! ...

You're not telling the whole story here. The design was revisited because there was only a single bid for construction of the tower and main span, which was far higher than expected. However, the foundation for the tower was already under construction, so a design revision would not have saved nearly as much as if an alternate design had been chosen in the first place. They stayed with the original design because it was impractical to change it so late in the project.

I don't recall any "rebellion" at all. Most people were so disgusted with the whole business they just wanted it finished. Even Jerry Brown, the most vocal of the politicians demanding a "signature" bridge (as a gateway to Oakland, where he was then mayor), had changed his tune by this time.

I don't know who you mean when you say "we" picked this bridge. It was picked by a committee set up by the demands of a few local politicians. While there was some public process, it was not submitted to the electorate, and the actual cost was not known at the time. Had the project been submitted to a vote of the taxpayers and tollpayers of the Bay Area, with accurate estimates of the cost (probably at least three times that of the original CalTrans plan), it is not likely that "we" would have approved it.

[HARTride 2012]

^^
confusing

I'm just sick of all the politics involved in this project. They've been treating it like a toy. :ohno:

[612bv3]

A bit off topic, but if there are many bay area people here, does anyone know if they're extending the 380?

I saw a lot of equipment and trucks gathering over there recently.

(BTW, 380 connects 101 and 280 at San Bruno)

Haven't heard a thing about it. Why would they extend 380 and to where?

[gladisimo]

^^ Apparently not, its used as a storage area.

380 was originally slated to go all the way to highway 1.

Would've been helluva alternative. The only other way to get through now is 92 and 35 (and some smaller roads).

There was a traffic accident on 92 a couple weeks ago while I was heading from HMB, and I wound up U-turning and heading to Pacifica to get back! ><

[HARTride 2012]

^^
That sucks.

[Vera Lúcia Fujimoto]

Wonderful!!!! I loved!!!

[HARTride 2012]

^^
???

[FM 2258]

This new span looks enormous in the pictures. I drove over the old bridge about a month ago but it was at night and slightly foggy so I didn't notice the new span.

[gladisimo]

Its hard to see the span even in daytime, especially if you're driving a regular car.

I drive over it in a suv and still can't see it easily, only ppl in the passenger side can see it well

[FM 2258]

^^

Interesting. I came to this thread wondering how I could miss something so massive even at night...haha.

[OettingerCroat]

i'm not 100% positive but i think they MIGHT have paved or at least treated the driving surface of the already-constructed parts of the bridge, i saw it on the local news a few days ago. the sides of the bridge were still that white, pristine concrete and the actual driving deck seemed clearly darker. if anyone is bored and wouldn't mind taking their helicopter out for a spin, you should go snap a few pics for us! :colgate:

[PopolVuh!]

I really like it.

[HARTride 2012]

I don't know if this link has been brought up before. But it has some really neat vintage photos of the SF/Oakland Bay Bridge and the downtown SF transition/approach. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(CA1352))

[xXFallenXx]

^^ the link didn't work for me.

[HARTride 2012]

I edited the link. The last two parenthesis were left out of the url link. So it did not work properly.

[jchernin]

Bay Bridge's single-tower span gets off ground

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Bay Area will finally get a chance to see what it's long been waiting for - the construction of a soaring single-tower suspension bridge east of Yerba Buena Island.

After a decade of controversy, politics and delays, and six years after construction started on the $5.5 billion new east span of the Bay Bridge, the 1.2-mile concrete skyway is a few steel plates and some paint from completion, and foundations for the bridge tower and suspension span are scheduled to be finished by Tuesday.

Even the complex work to replace the San Francisco approach to the bridge is nearing an end.

Now the attention turns to construction of the single-tower suspension span.

The suspension span "will be in final gear after all this waiting," said Bart Ney, a Caltrans spokesman. "We're out of the water, and out of the ground. It's all aerial acrobatics from here on out."

For the next five years, if everything goes according to schedule, workers for a joint venture of American Bridge and Fluor Corp. will assemble a 1,860-foot steel bridge that will be painted white and suspended on a single cable from a 525-foot tower.

It will rise just east of Yerba Buena Island, serving as a visual exclamation point at the end of the long, slender concrete skyway.

Often referred to as the "signature span," the bridge will be the first large self-anchored suspension bridge ever built - and it's designed to become a new Bay Area landmark. But construction will be long and complicated.

"This is the first one," said Mike Flowers, a veteran bridge engineer and American Bridge spokesman. "It's a lifetime opportunity. We've got quite a few young, bright, talented engineers working out here, and in five, six years, when we're done here and they move on to other projects, it's going to be kind of a letdown."

Work on the suspension span has already started, but much of it has been confined to trailers at the Port of Oakland or Yerba Buena Island, where a massive construction platform has been erected atop the western foundation for the suspension span.

Within a couple of months, motorists will see steel trusses begin to reach east, where they will connect to the skyway.

"We pretty much have to build two temporary bridges to build the permanent bridge," Flowers said.

Those side-by-side bridges will never carry traffic. Instead, they'll serve, along with six temporary towers, as interim supports to hold the 28 winglike steel deck pieces that will make up the new bridge deck - 14 segments for eastbound lanes and 14 for westbound.

Those sections will begin arriving by ship from Shanghai, where the bridge is being manufactured, in October or November. Steel sections of the tower will arrive by early 2009.

Over the next few years, crews will erect the tower, assemble the suspension cable and stretch it over the tower and beneath the bridge, and attach it to the deck. Then the temporary supports will be removed - and the bridge, it is hoped and expected, will support itself.

"As they say, you ain't seen nothing yet," Flowers said.

So far, most of the construction has taken part on the east side of the bay, where a joint venture of the Kiewit, FCI and Manson firms built the twin concrete viaducts known as the skyway. While they've been described by detractors as freeway on-ramps on steroids, they seem graceful from the water, rising from the eastern shoreline and curving toward Yerba Buena Island.

Built for $1.04 billion, the skyway rose out of the bay even as the debate raged in 2004 and 2005 over whether to scrap the single-tower design - and who should foot the bill for the bridge's huge cost overruns.

The foundations for the suspension span sit in the bay between Yerba Buena and the stub end of the skyway, which looms 150 feet above the water. The tower foundation is a big concrete octagon with a small forest of steel posts sticking out of the top. The steel tower, which will be lifted into place in four pieces, will be anchored to the steel pins.

Below the concrete, 13 piles with a diameter of 10 feet reach down 200 feet into bedrock. The eastern foundation features two concrete towers, 120 feet tall. It's anchored to the bay floor with 16 pilings 81/2 feet in diameter driven 300 feet deep into the hardened mud.

The foundation work was completed about 80 days early, which means KFM will earn a $5 million bonus, making the total cost of the marine foundation work $280 million - $33.5 million under budget. The early finish is allowing American Bridge to start its work sooner, Ney said, which could be crucial given the complexity of the work ahead.

Among the twists and turns awaiting motorists is the temporary bypass that is being built to the south of the existing bridge. Support columns have been built, and contractor C.C. Myers' crews are just starting the deck.

The final piece of double deck will be lifted into place during a full bridge closure sometime in the spring of 2009, Ney said. Until 2012 or 2013, the double-deck bypass will carry cars from the end of the trestle section of the bridge and loop slightly around the existing connection to the Yerba Buena tunnels. The detour, which will probably have a reduced speed limit, is needed to allow workers to build a link to the tunnels for the new bridge.

But there is some good news ahead for drivers. The reconstruction of the San Francisco approach to the bridge, which required a series of lane shifts, regular lane and ramp closures and one partial bridge closure, is almost done. Crews were pouring concrete last week for the permanent eastbound approach, which Caltrans tentatively expects to open by April.

After the eastbound opening, a couple more months of work will remain, and the Harrison Street off-ramp will still be closed, Ney said, but no more traffic shifts will be necessary.

While that work is winding down, American Bridge crews are gearing up across the bay in Oakland.

On Thursday, crews were preparing to test a cable-compression device, which will crunch together 17,400 5-millimeter wires, gathered into 137 strands, after the cable is strung. The test will take place Monday, but Ney is already thinking ahead to 2013.

"This is something we will keep for a museum," he said, "or display at the entrance to the bridge."

(click for photographs)
source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/19/BA2PUHPK5.DTL

[HARTride 2012]

It looks like work is going along smoothly, despite the rocky road of the past several years.

[Aerin]

Caltrans in norcal cant get anything done on time. Im suprised this is moving along as fast as it is. AND the fact that you have survived without the bridge for this long kinda says you dont NEED the bridge, so why spend billions building something that looks almost worse than the old bridge, using unstable technology to do it?

I'm not sure one can easily generalize about Caltrans in Northern California. Caltrans has 12 district offices statewide, in addition to the Headquarters office in Sacramento. I think each office comes with its own distinct personality, so perhaps, to be fair, one might want to narrow one's criticism to a particular district? In your case, the relevant district is the one in Oakland.

Nevertheless, you are right, they can't get anything done on time, as is obvious from these examples:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/25/BAGCRQ1MG94.DTL
http://www.ktvu.com/baybridge/14022672/detail.html

:)

[LosAngelesMetroBoy]

yes, but then think of the 580/80 interchange just outside san fran... was there a reason it took 15 years to build?

[Aerin]

yes, but then think of the 580/80 interchange just outside san fran... was there a reason it took 15 years to build?

I'm not familiar with the background of this project, so I can't comment intelligently on the nature of the delay. Perhaps there were a lot of contract change orders? (Then Design is to blame, but then again, it's very difficult to catch everything during the design process--some underground utilities, for example, are not shown in utility agencies' records and thus are only uncovered during construction.)

Other factors that impact the construction schedule (in general): lane closures can only occur on certain nights and for limited hours, rainy seasons which limit the type of work that can be done, environmental documents (eg contractor's Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan) that need to be approved by various boards and to be followed strictly by the contractor, otherwise the board can shut down the project (I believe), etc.

Anyway, I was mostly commenting on your generalizations. I have my own complaints about the agency, but to say that they (or even when you limit it to the northern California region--again I reiterate, it makes no sense to divide Caltrans into 2 parts as the offices operate almost independently of each other) can't get anything done on time is both untrue and unfair.

[cmjohns6]

it has been a full year since we have had a picture update... anyone near the san francisco area with a camera?

[hellrazor650]

has this project progressed at all?

[jwalas]

From Flickr.Most pictures taken by Nicole Medina's

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3150/3028103440_437ece1c28_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/3015649637_b72b3d1b3d_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3213/2928592700_53ff217b53_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3150/2910453665_8c15b516f7_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3073/2911296532_c56b447328_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/2911296960_4ceb381094_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3223/2911297532_16e3ba5db4_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2910451767_bdde210ff3_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2911298310_73a5f3d330_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2910452353_9b06772afb_b.jpg

[gladisimo]

wow an upd