Skip to main content

San Francisco Bay Bridge east span opens

After years of delays and cost overruns, the newly built US$6.4 billion eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened with few problems other than the traffic snarls that were common around the toll plaza of the old span. The single pylon suspension span replaces a structure that was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It is designed to withstand the strongest earthquake estimated by seismologists to occur at the site over a 1,500-year period.
September 5, 2013 Read time: 1 min
After years of delays and cost overruns, the newly built US$6.4 billion eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened with few problems other than the traffic snarls that were common around the toll plaza of the old span.

The single pylon suspension span replaces a structure that was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It is designed to withstand the strongest earthquake estimated by seismologists to occur at the site over a 1,500-year period.

One of the busiest spans in the United States, the single-towered, 634 metre long self-anchored main span is more than twice the length of the previous record holders, Japan's Konohana Bridge and South Korea's Yeongjong Grand Bridge, according to the Structurae engineering database.

It has been completed six years behind schedule at five times over budget. It will be used by some 280,000 daily commuters.

Related Content

  • Kistler’s smooth ride on Caltrans info highway
    December 16, 2022
    Caltrans needed a solution to boost its outmoded traffic monitoring capability. Kistler’s KiTraffic Statistics met the California agency’s stringent requirements. And then came Covid…
  • Illinois EPA funds cleaner transport options in Chicago area
    December 13, 2018
    The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pledged approximately $19 million in its first round of funding to help transit agencies invest in cleaner modes of transport. This initial round has been distributed to local companies as part of the Driving a Cleaner Illinois Programme – an initiative which seeks to improve air quality in the state by removing old diesel engines from service. Funding is expected to provide clean air benefits for working families and children in ‘environmental jus
  • Joining old and new in Canada’s Highway 407
    June 17, 2016
    David Arminas visits Canada’s Highway 407 ETR to see how the concession is working and hear about new arrangements for the roadway’s extension. The Toronto region is North America’s eighth largest metropolitan area and its roads become notoriously congested. In 1997 Highway 407, a 68km concrete toll motorway which skirts the northern edge of Toronto, was opened and initially operated by the province and CHIC - a consortium of four leading Ontario-based companies. Finance came from the Ontario Financing Auth
  • Øresund bridges the front line for border crossing traffic
    September 15, 2016
    Timothy Compston considers the challenges faced by the operators of the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the largest structure of its kind across Europe. In light of the concerns about the ongoing security threat and the unprecedented flow of migrants, many of the countries that make up the Schengen Area in Europe have re-introduced border controls. For its part, Sweden has rolled out ID checks for train, bus and ferry passengers from Denmark placing the landmark Øresund Bridge very much on the fr