TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

November-December 2009
Transportation News for the Nine-County Bay Area

Photo: © 2009 Barrie Rokeach

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SPECIAL BRIDGE ISSUE

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been in the spotlight this fall, topping Bay Area newscasts and making local and national headlines. First there was the daring bypass operation on the East Span of the Bay Bridge that called for a planned closure of both halves of the bridge over the long Labor Day weekend. The surgery to roll out a 3,200-ton double-tiered deck section the length of a football field and then slide in a 3,600-ton replacement went relatively smoothly.

But that monumental construction feat was soon overshadowed by the discovery of a defect — a failed steel “eyebar” member in the latticework holding up the old East Span — that threatened to prolong the holiday weekend bridge closure. Engineers were able to patch things up in time to reopen the bridge the morning after Labor Day, only to see the repairs fall victim to vibrations seven weeks later. Officials had no choice but to close the bridge again to reinforce the repairs, this time for an agonizing five-plus days.

And when the eyebar repairs didn’t steal headlines, the “S” curve in the new bridge bypass did. Linking the old East Span to the Yerba Buena Island tunnel while the new East Span completes its march toward the island, the detour has proven to be a challenge for both motorists and truckers, who must slow down in order to navigate the stretch.

MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority has been working hand in hand with Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission to keep the project to replace the East Span of the Bay Bridge on track, and to troubleshoot the unforeseen glitches along the way. In this issue, we revisit in words and photos the extreme engineering of the Labor Day weekend operation, and bring you up to date on what’s next for the region’s toll bridges (see links below).