Crossing the new East Span of the Bay Bridge on a Sunny Warm SF Day

I hope I'm not losing my "edge," but, I actually waited almost 5 days before driving across the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The Bridge reopened late on Labor Day evening (September 2), after a very long Labor Day weekend closure (5 days) for final touches to connect the new East Span to the Yerba Buena/Treasure Island tunnel and the West Span of the bridge, which has remained intact.

The Bay Bridge opened for traffic in November, 1936; that's nearly 76 years ago. It is 6 months older than the more-famous Golden Gate Bridge, which connects San Francisco with Marin County.  For just about all of this time, the Bay Bridge has been a true workhorse of a bridge, carrying close to 300,000 vehicles each day, between San Francisco and Oakland.  It has two spans, connected in the middle by a tunnel that has exits to Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands. The west span is a double-deck suspension bridge. The east span has been, until this past week, a two-level cantilever bridge.

During the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, a portion of the east span of the Bay Bridge collapsed.  It was repaired, but it indicated that the bridge was not sufficiently seismically strong enough to sustain future earthquakes.

Finally, nearly 24 years later and a lot of politics and "challenges", the Bay Bridge now has a magnificent new east span.

This new span cost a lot of money and some say it did not have to be such an architecturally-interesting structure, but, I predict, the criticisms will soon be forgotten and this magnificent Bay Bridge will become another San Francisco Bay Area icon.

And, it is as seismically safe as a structure can be, anywhere.

So, Saturday was my day to drive over the new Bay Bridge.

Jim and I left the house at 8:30 a.m. and went through the toll plaza at 8:46 a.m. We left early in an attempt to avoid the heavy traffic that has been on the bridge since it opened.  Our drive was as perfect as it could be.



We've been having a heat wave in the Bay Area and Saturday was one of those rare warm sunny days in all parts of San Francisco, even on the very western edge of the City, which was our destination for the day.

The new east span is very open and consists of one level, with separate parallel roadways going west and east.

I drove and Jim was my camera person. We had the sunroof open so he could take upward pictures of the cathedral-like tower.

These photos chronicle our drive:

This is the Yerba Buena Tunnel entrance, going west, at the end of the east span. It connects to the west span of the Bay Bridge and has an exit to both Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island:

Here are a few views of the west span of the Bay Bridge, as we drove west toward San Francisco. Notice that it has a straighter approach across it.





On the way back to the East Bay, leaving San Francisco, you can see the old Bay Bridge east span on your right.  Having crossed this bridge hundreds of times, I've never really had a good look at it...to me it looks like an old railroad bridge, which, for a time it was when the Key Line went over the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.






There is a bicycle/walking path parallel to the east-bound side of the Bay Bridge's east span, on its south side.


 It is a temporary structure, for the time being,  until about 3 years from now when the old east span will be totally removed.  Eventually, the permanent path will go all the way to Treasure Island where there are at least 8 wineries, a nice deli, housing, and fabulous views of both San Francisco and the East Bay. For now, the temporary path ends before the Yerba Buena Tunnel.

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And, what did we do once we got to San Francisco?

We drove across the City as far west as one can drive before driving into the Pacific Ocean, to spend much of the day at Land's End, which is part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

Land's End is in the northwest corner of San Francisco. It has miles of semi-rugged trails, some portions paved, with breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, many small beaches, old shipwrecks, the ruins of Sutro Baths, and passing freighters and other boats.

We hiked at my leisurely pace for several hours, going from the fairly-new Land's End Lookout Visitor Center, along the Coastal Trail to the parking area at El Camino del Mar, another entrance to Land's End. We parked in the large free parking lot at the Visitor Center.

Some of you will recall that I blogged about Land's End about a year ago, shortly after  the Visitor Center first opened.

We started here.




Jim is off and hiking.



One of many stops to enjoy the views.

At the Eagle's Point Overlook looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge and China Beach.

Looking down on the Sutro Baths ruins and the Cliff House off in the distance, to the right.






Zooming in on the Cliff House



and rocks that often have seals on them, but seemed to just be inhabited by birds on this day.



After all this, we were famished. Lunch at Louis' seemed to be the thing to do.

Although Louis' has been in business here since 1937, this was my first time at this small, very popular restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

I've looked in before or after a meal at one of the Cliff House dining rooms, and, last time at the Cliff House, decided that I had to eat at Louis' where the menu is similar to that at the Cliff House's casual Bistro dining room, but less expensive, more popular with locals than with tourists, and with just as fabulous views.

Louis' boasts that they have only taken cash payments since 1937 and continue to do so.  So, bring cash, or your ATM card (they have an ATM right in the restaurant).

We were happy with our lunch here and even with the congenial wait outside on this warm day.

Jim, of course, had the Shrimp Louis salad.

And, I could not resist the Tuna Melt.

The Bridge Builders: A Photography Exhibit of the Building of the New Bay Bridge East Span

As we get ready for 5 days of closure of the Bay Bridge, while the new Eastern span is connected to the rest of the Bay Bridge, Jim and I calmed our anxiety about not being able to drive over the Bay Bridge over the Labor Day weekend and several days before, by visiting what has to be the best kept secret treasure related to the building of this new Eastern span.

Just a tiny bit of background for those readers who do not live in the San Francisco Bay Area...in 1989, the Bay Area had a large earthquake (Loma Prieta Earthquake) which caused a section of the Bay Bridge to collapse.  The Bay Bridge is the main bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland and the rest of the East Bay. It has always been a true "workhorse" bridge, carrying huge numbers of drivers every day.

After the Bay Bridge section was repaired, it was decided that the entire Eastern span of the bridge need to be replaced. That was 24 years ago.  The replacement of the bridge has been filled with politics, design debates, and, most very recently, defective bolts used in the new construction.

Finally, the fates be willing, the new Bay Bridge should be operational right after Labor Day.

At any rate, it certainly is about time and I can't wait to drive over it.

The SECRET was revealed to me last week in a letter published in the San Francisco Chronicle, a letter from a woman from Las Vegas who had been visiting San Francisco with her husband. While touring San Francisco's beautiful City Hall, they happened upon an extensive exhibit by photographer Joseph A. Blum of large color photos he took of workers building the new Bay Bridge span.

The woman noted that there were no listings of the exhibit in the San Francisco Chronicle and that every local she spoke to about it had absolutely no knowledge of the exhibit.

Today, Jim and I went to City Hall to view the exhibit.

It has been hanging since June 24, 2013 and will remain in City Hall until September 27, 2013.  It fills most of the basement level of City Hall and there are a few additional photographs in City Hall's North Light Court on the main floor. There is no fee to view this very extensive exhibit and it can be viewed whenever City Hall is open.

Joseph A. Blum is now a photographer, but, for 25 years, worked in construction as a boilermaker, ship fitter,  and welder.  He knows construction and has been chronicling the bridge construction throughout, telling his story through the eyes of the workers.

His photographs are amazing and thrilling. He's right up there with the workers...and so are you, the viewer.  And, he knows the language of construction, so, by reading his photo captions, you, too, will feel like you are right there working on this magnificent bridge and know what you are doing.

These are a few of his photos included in the exhibit.

I took us about an hour to look at all the photographs, While the City was packed with people, we met one other person in the exhibit. She, a San Francisco native, had found out about the exhibit as we had, from the letter last week in the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Afterwards, we walked around City Hall a bit; it's a magnificent building.

Then, we decided that we had to go to lunch somewhere with a view of the Bay Bridge.

We wound up at the Ferry Plaza Building

and chose the Ferry Plaza Seafood restaurant for our lunch with a Bay Bridge view. Note, that you can't see the Eastern span of the bridge from the San Francisco side, but we still got our bridge "fix."

Jim had a cup of New England Clam Chowder (they also serve Manhattan Clam Chowder) and half a Smoked Salmon Sandwich.

 I had a spicy Shrimp Quesadilla.

All told, a lovely San Francisco day. And, our next visit to San Francisco...maybe in 6 days...will include a drive over the new Bay Bridge!