Monday, July 22, 2013

The Final Section of the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge, 1936

Driving by the emerging tower of the new $6.3 Billion dollar Eastern Span New Years Eve, this image came to mind - which shows the imminent completion of the original bridge - at the time an engineering marvel.  A fifty-foot section (just East of this view) collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, leading to the eventual construction of the new span.

Bay Bridge, Eastern Span Under Construction, March 22, 1936

Flickr Collection on the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island





The eastern portion of the Bay Bridge was, at 10,176’ long, the longest cantilever construction in the world at that time. This photo shows the last section of the span being fitted into place.

Wikipedia on the Bay Bridge Eastern Span Replacement
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available through World Wide Archive
original from the collection of the Oakland Public Library