The bridge to everywhere

Here you see it, the 1.2-mile-long east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge while under construction. The east span will be the largest self-anchored suspension bridge. The single tower will be located just a little off of Yerba Buena/Treasure Island. Construction has taken place while the existing east span is open and, thus, requires all kinds of engineering and scheduling twists and turns to keep current traffic flowing and interruptions at a minimum. It is THE link to the East Bay from San Francisco and one of a limited number of links to the South Bay. All to seismically retrofit the span after one section of it collapsed in the 1991 Loma Prieta earthquake. On our recent tour of the project, the Project Engineer said something about the new span being able to withstand a 8.0 on the Richter scale; not sure if I heard him right or if that's what I wanted to hear. I must confess that the thought of the bridge collapsing again in an earthquake gives me the willies.

Although you can't see it in these photos, along the east side of the new span is a public path for bikes and pedestrians. This $600 million addition to the project seems hefty in cost but will be a fantastic addition to a bridge that's never been publicly accessible: all thanks to BCDC. The project needed to provide: "Maximum feasible public access consistent with the project." That's what the laws says. I realize that I'm biased, but thank goodness for good government.

So looks like our government may be taken over soon by the Dems. Hallelujah. Not that it'll be a smooth or easy road head. In fact, I think it would be an awful time to regain control, but someone's got to do it and it's better us than them. There's something so ironic bout a government that's hell-bent on spreading democracy all over the world, while having no regard for the democratic process here at home. What's that called: hypocrisy, theatre of the absurd, horror story?