New Bridge Span Opens - U GO 1st!

Its Labor Day 2013 and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has a new eastern span set to open tonight, a day ahead of the delayed schedule date. As of 5pm the time for the bridge opening, ceremony and all, has not been announced.

I suppose us who'll use the bridge should be excited and elated about its opening. But after seeing costs run rampant, materials and design flaws exposed and threatened lawsuits, I'm really just left with one very basic question;  Is It Safe?


Ever since the infamous S-Curve design, I've been skeptical about the planning and architecture of the bridge. In May, 2013, there were concrete concerns being reported and talk of a coverup. There's probably a scary timeline of bridge building incidents you could find online.  


We must remember one fact that's key to the safety of THIS particular bridge. This is California, a place located on geological fault lines that move. A place waiting for The Big One.

The old span was built in 1936, back when the Great Depression had a strangling grip on the economy and work force.  It is said that some of the best architecture and strongest structures were built during that depressed time period, New York's Empire State Building and our own Golden Gate Bridge being two others.


Here we are some 8 decades later with a depressed economy and shrunken work force once again signs of the times. But I keep hearing that old saying "they don't build things like they used to" in the back of my head.  Maybe I'm just one of those over cautious worry worts.  Maybe I see today's disposable society wanting things made quick and cheap as opposed to making things that last. Can we trust steel from China?


I won't be the first car going over the bridge tonight, that's for sure. I hear they've gathered a bunch of classic cars that crossed the bridge when it first opened back in the 30's.  I truly don't know exactly why I even posted this story. I suppose its just to get the jitters out of my system about the quality of the new bridge span. Oh, well, congratulations bay area on your new bridge span.  May it last as long as the old span.  

But do consider this; before crossing over the sparkling piece of compressed aluminum think about pinning down your city leadership and asking them that one tooth rattling question;  

IS IT SAFE????