With catwalk lights, new Bay Bridge comes to life
Oakland — For the first time since the design of the new east span of the Bay Bridge was selected in 1998, it no longer takes a healthy imagination or a look at artist renderings or models to visualize what it will look like.
On Monday night, catwalk lights were switched on at 7:45, giving the Bay Area a preview of the bridge’s after-dark appearance when it opens in 2013. A little more than a week ago, construction crews finished hanging orange catwalks that trace the path that the single-tower suspension span’s mile-long main cable will follow.
Construction of the single-tower suspension span - the most complicated and expensive part of the $6.3 billion bridge - is finally nearing the beginning of the end. On Sunday, the four final pieces of the span’s 28-piece deck arrived from Shanghai. Over the next few months, they’ll be hoisted into place, linking the deck of the suspension span with the white concrete skyway, completed in 2008.
The new Bay Bridge span
Nice to see this finally looking like a real bridge. I hope they are able to complete the span and get traffic onto it before the next big quake hits the Bay Area.