San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge under construction, January, 1938:
[Photo: Shorpy/Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress.]
Mick Hartley
Politics and Culture
Posted in Uncategorized
2 responses to “Vanishing point”
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The San Francisco Bay Bridge lower level was originally given completely over to interurban electric rail lines, which were torn out in the late 1950s, IIRC, and the entire span –both levels– were converted to motor vehicle traffic only. A decade later the limitations of the California freeways for commuting were becoming glaringly apparent, and the engineering, design, and financing for the heavy rail Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) were well underway. BART, which transits SF Bay in a tunnel roughly parallel to the Bay Bridge, is financed largely by property taxes in the counties it serves. It all became somewhat moot several years ago when the truss sections of the Bay Bridge, following major seismic damage, were completely replaced by a new bridge. The western spans, with the four iconic suspension towers (the Golden Gate bridge has only two) remains in use.
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Interesting. Thanks for that.
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Mick Hartley 
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