The last two massive concrete deck segments that make up the Skyway of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span were lifted into place mid-morning on December 7 in a balancing act that was an engineering achievement in itself. Construction crews lifted the segments — the larger piece tipping the scales at 776 tons — in tandem at both ends of their common bridge pier column, to equalize stress.
Photo: Caltrans; Naoh Berger
By Karin Betts
Published: January, 2007
Orange-vested workers and the media looked on as the final wing-shaped segments were lifted into place 100 feet above the Bay, completing the elevated roadway and marking a key milestone both for the bridge workers and for the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC), made up of representatives from Caltrans, the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and the California Transportation Commission.
We are excited to be a part of these events; to recognize major milestones that are accomplished for our bridge construction projects and to recognize the hard work that’s occurred to produce such massive, complex projects, said Rod McMillan, director of Bridge Oversight and Operations for BATA, which is run by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. BATA funds the day-to-day operations, facilities maintenance and administration of the bridges with funds levied from tolls. BATA also funds the long-term capital improvement and rehabilitation of the bridges, including the projects mandated by Regional Measure 1 and the Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program, which includes construction of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
The 1.2 mile-long Skyway — now 96 percent complete — is the longest portion of the new East Span and will ultimately connect the Oakland shoreline with the bridge’s crowning element, a stunning suspension span that will join the Skyway to Yerba Buena Island. The Skyway is made up of 452 concrete deck segments that each started life at a Stockton fabrication yard, where custom-made equipment was used to match-cast every piece to fit precisely with adjoining pieces. Then each section was placed on a barge and floated through the San Joaquin Delta, past other Bay Area bridges, to its permanent home over the San Francisco Bay.
The lifting of the last Skyway deck segment triggers another milestone event: closure of the Stockton Yard, where, for the past three years, roughly 260 bridge builders working for Caltrans and the joint venture contractor, Kiewit-FCI-Manson (KFM), processed 130,000 cubic yards of concrete and 31 million pounds of steel. The massive construction winches used to lift each segment into place are now being disassembled and removed from the Skyway deck. The recognizable red cranes that have perched in the Bay for years also will be coming down.
Although the road deck is now in place, the Skyway is not scheduled for completion until the end of 2007. According to Caltrans Resident Engineer Doug Coe, over the next year Caltrans will place the final concrete overlay, install electrical systems, finish the bike and pedestrian path, and put in water lines to serve Treasure Island.
Once the Skyway is complete, it will be used as a staging ground for the next phase of the project: construction of the half-mile self-anchored suspension (SAS) span and its signature 525-foot tower. The foundations for that span and tower are already over 60 percent complete. The SAS’s steel deck sections, tower and cables will be fabricated in China, and then erected here in early 2009. When complete, it will be the longest single tower, self-anchored suspension bridge in the world. The new East Span is expected to be fully open to traffic in 2013.
