Bay Bridge
Bay Bridge, aka, The Bridge of San Francisco - Oakland, is a rival to San Francisco emblem, Golden Gate Bridge, which connects the metropolis with Marin County in the North Bay.
Bay Bridge is another marvel of civil engineering in San Francisco, allowing road and rail links between San Francisco, the San Francisco Penisula in the west end and city to Oakland in Alameda County in the East Bay in the east. Bay Bridge, which crosses San Francisco Bay Area consists of two main segments, which are connected through Yerba Buena Island.
Bay Bridge is a Paid bridge, part of Highway 80. Every around 270, 000 vehicles pass on both parts. The two bridges in the composition of the Bay Bridge Tunnel are associated with that which cuts in the middle of the island. From 1st January 2007 the fee for crossing the bridge is $ 4, but it pays only in the direction of Oakland-San Francisco or in the direction from east to west.
The construction of the Bay Bridge was designed more in the gold rush in the United States, but actual construction did not begin until 1933. Construction is complete for a period of three years and officially opened for traffic on November 12th, 1936.
It was six months before another famous bridge of San Francisco - Golden Gate, was to be put into operation. Bay Bridge provides rail passengers and freight from Miami to Key West.
An accident in September 1935 saw Bay Bridge stricken from the killer hurricane, killing over 400 people. In this tragedy the train falls from a height of 17 feet. Ernest Hemingway is one of the few survivors, he sent a letter to his publisher to inform him of the violent storm and falls.
The bridge was renovated and returned to service in 1938. In 1972 the old Bay Bridge was replaced by a new one which had a longer span - 5000 feet.
The project of the Bay Bridge is the work of Charles H. Purcell, a mere executive of the construction of a U.S. company responsible for building bridges, American Bridge Company. At the outset of the upper level of the Bay Bridge they are admitting only the movement of vehicles and all trucks and trains are run on the bottom. A little later, after final completion, the lower level is open to vehicles of public transport in San Francisco.
Bay Bridge was built by record amounts of steel and concrete. Its total length is about 7.2 km, each level has five traffic lanes with a total length of 17.5 meters. Bay Bridge becomes a victim and another natural disaster in 1989 when an earthquake is part of the reason the eastern segment between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland was destroyed. The lengthy analysis led to the conclusion that this eastern segment is not seismically stable, so it was decided that it would be replaced with a new bridge.
The construction of this part of the Bay Bridge began in 2002, but several times for poor quality signals and major construction work overruns disappointed. T was expected that the new segment of the Bay Bridge was to be ready in 2013, which is six years later than the initial period.
This new structure of the Bay Bridge is being built entirely with the latest cutting-edge technology and unlike the old segment will have a new addition to automotive and pedestrian lanes and bicycle lanes.
