During Demolition, One Last View from the Old Bay Bridge | KQED News

In the shadow of the glistening, problem-wracked new Bay Bridge, the original eastern span is coming down piece by piece.

A few weeks ago, equipped with standard-issue hard hat, bright orange safety vest, plastic goggles and borrowed work boots, I venture onto the live demolition site.

Video by: Adam Grossberg

[godbluffvdgg]

I worked at SFO and OAK when I got out of the USAF in 85, It was night work 12-8, commuted from Vacaville, I remember that the double decker bridge reminded me of my home in philly, we have one near our Airport; of course, that one isn't going over the Beautiful SF Bay...But the double deckness of it just always reminded me...The traffic heading in at 6 AM from Vallejo to the bridge was staggering...Most of the time they'd be stopped...3 hours wasn't unusual for them to commute...We didn't have that problem at midnight!

[darkkiss]

I was born and lived in the Bay Area for 40 years. I crossed the old bridge countless times.

[danieldougan]

The old bridge served a great purpose. But the new bridge is gorgeous, spectacular, and (most importantly) much safer than the old one. Both are marvels of engineering.

[tnate]

It was how I came into SF when I moved there. While the Golden Gate gets all the attention, my heart will always be with the workhorse Bay Bridge.

[cynthiacarter]

Grew up there from 1954-1975. I remember being about 4 with my dad on the street car to Oakland on the bottom deck along with the trucks. The cars were on the top deck. I loved it!

[rrfirefly]

Some of us will miss the old bridge between Oakland and Yerba Buena Island. The new tower span may be modern and safer but it lacks any gutsy character and it further erases the memory of the venerable old trains that crossed the Bay on the bridge's lower level until 1958.

[Dog.soldier]

My father was an iron worker on this bridge

[Mrruneight]

The Oakland Bay Bridge lives on in Train Simulator Classic's Sacramento Northern Railroad Route. Long live the Oakland Bay Bridge!

[DaringWin]

Some of my earliest fond memories were crossing that giant going to Grandmommy's in the valley then returning home [San Francisco]. So long.

[georgesenda]

Thanks to the brave men who built the original bridge and allowed us to cross it for years.
I wish they had put the troll on the new bridge but people have no sense of history or humor.

They put it in some museum or something.

[chrisfitzmaurice]

My old gaffer got court-martialed for looping the OBB early on in WW2. The guys in his squadron said it couldn' t be looped. Dad called bs and set out to prove them wrong. I bet there was some money involved too.

At the appointed hour he showed up in his plane and looped it! Unfortunately a newspaper photographer was there and took some pics that went front page the next day. The Navy command got the number of the plane and that evening dad was in the brig for willful and reckless disobedience of orders.

But the Navy didn't figure on my grandmother. She knew an Army general - and got him to intervene for my father. The court-martial was dropped but he was kicked out of the Navy.

He then applied to the Army Air Corp and was accepted there. But as a NCO. LOL!

He ended up flying C46's and C47's over the Himalayas on the India-China-Burma route; where he got into trouble again, for stealing a Jeep to go tiger hunting. A true Irishman!

I think about him a lot.

[Glenonica]

I haven't been in California for about 8 yrs, the Bay Bridge was the heart of the area. When I go back someday I will miss seeing it's structure.

[GrnArrow]

It's sad to see this old bridge go.  I remember crossing over it a few times when I was a kid back in the 1980's.  I can also remember when the earthquake of 1989 damaged it, causing a piece of the upper deck to fall onto the lower deck.  I lived out in Fairfield at the time and felt that 6.9 earthquake shake the apartment.  I'll never forget that day.  

[cambridgeh.lutece]

Until 1958, three interurban electric railroads ran on the bottom deck of the Bay Bridge on 2 tracks to the Transbay Terminal! Plus at 1:37 you can see the even older ferry terminal, which two of the railroads used to service until 1939, when the railway on the bridge opened (after delays). !

[paulg]

I moved to the Bay Area in 1989 2 months before the big earthquake and remember the damage, alot of history with that bridge.

[louisjones]

I miss The Bay so much, it will always be home.

[flasher]

It remains to be seen wether the new one lasts as long as the old one

[hungrysoles]

The old bridge is more handsome than the new bridge. It should have been restored. The new bridge is hideous like many modern kinds of bridges. I hope there are no plans to replace the Golden Gate Bridge with a modern replacement.

[Anormalrandom]

I remember in like 2016 looking to the right, asking my parents, what is that? It’s a demolition I will never forget

[kineticdeath]

the new bridge doesnt look as cool, i love those big boxy steel girder bridges!