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The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland , it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks.
- San Francisco Bay, via YBI
Bay Bridge, complex crossing that spans San Francisco Bay from the city of San Francisco to Oakland via Yerba Buena Island. It consists of two end-to-end suspension bridges, a large-bore tunnel, a cantilever bridge, and a viaduct. It is one of the preeminent engineering feats of the 20th century.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Mar 20, 2024 · The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is made up of two bridge segments: a skyway structure/single anchored suspension bridge between Oakland and Yerba Buena Island, and a suspension span from the island to San Francisco. Connecting the two is the largest diameter bore tunnel in the world.
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- The Bridge Was Conceived During The Gold Rush.
- A Self-Proclaimed Emperor Demanded The Bridge.
- A Tiny Island Was Key to Building The Bridge.
- New Techniques Were Devised to Build The Anchorage.
- The Project Is Really Three Bridges in one.
- Workers Finished Well Ahead of Schedule.
- Lax Safety Regulations Led to Numerous Deaths.
- The Bridge Was Never Given An Official name.
- Heavy Fog Near The Bridge Caused Major Air Accidents.
- The Bridge Contributed to A Major Oil Spill.
The California Gold Rush of the mid-19th century swelled San Francisco’s population to more than 30,000 in just a few years as Americans and immigrants arrived by the thousands. But the completion of the nation’s first transcontinental railway disconnected the city from the railroad (which ultimately had its terminus in Oakland), so in 1872 a Bay B...
An eccentric British businessman named Joshua A. Norton traveled to California seeking fortune during the Gold Rush, but fell on hard times after failing to secure the rice market. He became a colorful local character and eventually dubbed himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, and charmed newspaper writers and othe...
Once informally called Wood Island and Sea Bird Island, and officially Goat Island, Yerba Buena Island (which means “good herb” in Spanish and was also the name of the settlement that became San Francisco) lies in San Francisco Bay just below Treasure Island. In order to span the length of the bay, engineers—led by California State Highway Engineer...
A February 1935 article in Popular Science detailed the incredible work done by engineers to construct the bridge over eight miles of land and the San Francisco Bay. To secure the anchorage midway between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island, workers tugged a caisson (patented by New York engineer Daniel E. Moran) that supported 55 steel tubes fill...
To reach Yerba Buena Island from downtown San Francisco, the bridge’s designers built a pair of suspension bridges that connected at the center anchorage. From Yerba Buena to Oakland they constructed a third bridge, composed of a cantilever bridge and viaduct. All told, the trio of bridges (and the tunnel on Yerba Buena, not counting approaches, to...
The California Legislature created the Toll Bridge Authority in the late 1920s to begin the process of building a bridge across San Francisco Bay. Construction began on July 9, 1933 with a groundbreaking ceremony marked by a flyover, musical performances, and concurrent detonations at Yerba Buena, San Francisco, and Oakland performed by President F...
A well-known principle at the time of the bridge’s construction was that for every $1 million spent on a high-steel project, the public could expect one worker fatality. Out of the 8300 men who worked on the bridge, 24 ultimately perished. By comparison, around 27 workers (out of 600) died constructing the Brooklyn Bridge, and 11 died building the ...
James Rolph served as mayor of San Francisco from 1912 to 1931, earning the nickname “Sunny Jim” from his use of the song “Smiles” as his campaign theme song. He was then elected governor of California in 1931 but died in office three years later. The bridge’s builders planned to honor Rolph by naming the structure after him, but local political he...
In 1968 a T33 Navy training aircraft left Alameda Naval Air Station carrying two officers, but in heavy fog the small plane struck a cantilever arch 15 feet above the eastern span of the Bay Bridge roadway, burst into flames, and fell into the bay, killing both pilots and sending debris onto moving vehicles. A similar accident occurred in 1943 when...
On November 7, 2007, the Cosco Busan oil tanker hit the base of the bridge’s Delta Tower and spilled around 53,500 gallons of fuel into the bay, forcing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency. The spill killed thousands of birds and caused over $1 million in structural damage and $70 million in cleanup costs. The ship’s pilo...
Jul 28, 2012 · BAY BRIDGE HISTORY. In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to great fanfare, after three years and five months of construction. On opening day, former President Herbert Hoover said, “this is the greatest bridge yet constructed.” Nowadays, 280,000 vehicles drive on the Bay Bridge every day.
Jul 22, 2021 · Quick Facts. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is significant for its influence in the California Bay Area. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge’s multi-modal design is a direct example of the mindset of commuters during the 1930s.
Nov 1, 2023 · Local. You asked, we answered: Can you walk, bike across the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge? By Alissa Greenberg, Special to SFGATE Nov 1, 2023. A view of traffic on the Bay Bridge, the 8.4-mile...
