Opened on November 12, 1936, this bridge connects San Francisco and the city of Oakland in California (United States), passing through Yerba Buena Island via a tunnel and carrying more than 240,000 vehicles daily. Let’s learn a little more about this impressive structure.
It was built between 1933 and 1936, with construction completed six months before the famous Golden Gate Bridge, which would take away its honor of being the the world's longest bridge to date.
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has a total length of 7,200 meters and one maximum height of 160 meters on the water-free surface. Originally a mixed-use area, rail traffic was completely restricted in 1958, and today it is used solely for rolling stock (primarily automobiles).
It should be noted that this is not a typical bridge, but rather an extension consisting of three sections of infrastructure that are seamlessly connected, one after another. Thus, the section connecting San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island (its most recognizable feature) functions structurally and in reality as two suspension bridges connected by a central support, which gives the structure a sense of continuity, making it appear as a single bridge with six distinct spans. On the other hand, there is the section that connects Yerba Buena Island with the city of Oakland.
It consisted of a a 3,100-meter-long cantilever bridge and for a a 2,820-meter-long suspension bridge, but, unfortunately, an earthquake measuring nearly 7 on the Richter scale that occurred in 1989 damaged the first of these, causing its deck to collapse, so it was replaced. The new one was built according to innovative techniques that ensure its resistance to major earthquakes, with a large investment of 6.3 billion dollars.
With this new construction and the structural retrofitting of the other sections to withstand potential earthquakes, the State of California is ensuring that this iconic link between the two cities will remain in service for many more years.
