Old Bay Bridge nearly gone for good

Louis LaVenture,
Editor-in-Chief

The new Bay Bridge will finally be out of the shadow of its predecessor.

On Aug. 10 Caltrans crews removed the fifth and final metal piece of the old Bay Bridge called a truss.

The project took two days to complete, however, the process is far from over.

According to a statement from Caltrans, the 504-foot truss will be cut off and lowered onto barges just like the previous four.

The main difference is that this truss is so large it must be cut into three pieces before being moved to Pier 7 in San Francisco, which added anywhere from five to seven days to the project.

The removal of the final truss will complete the second part of the process to completely remove the old bridge.

With the first phase completed in 2015, the final phase will require Caltrans crews to remove 14 trusses nearly 300 feet each that connect to Oakland.

Caltrans and Bay Bridge officials were both hopeful the second phase would be completed this week sometime.

The removal of the final truss was streamed live by Caltrans on their website and gave people all over the world the opportunity to see the final moments of the iconic structure.

Caltrans officials hope to complete the project by 2017 and at publication time the second phase had not yet been fully completed.

According to the Historical Society of San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, construction on the Bay Bridge began in 1933 and was completed by American Bridge Company. Just 3 years later, on Nov 12, 1936, it opened, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge.