With new span under construction, locals face long goodbye to old bridge.
The current eastern span of the Bay Bridge will remain in the Bay for several years after it becomes defunct in 2013 since it will have to be taken apart piece-by-piece, a Caltrans spokesman said.
The eastern span, a cantilever bridge built in 1936, is being replaced by a self-anchored suspension bridge that will connect Oakland to Yerba Buena Island and the western span of the bridge in San Francisco, Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said.
The building of the new eastern span was commissioned following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that collapsed a section of the upper deck of the bridge.
After years of delays and cost overruns, the new span is finally set to open sometime in fall 2013, having reached significant milestones in the $6.3 billion project in the past two days.
On Sunday, the final four deck sections of the bridge arrived from Shanghai, China, and on Monday evening, temporary catwalks leading up to the 525-foot tower of the new span were illuminated with construction lights, giving residents a sneak preview of what the bridge will look like.
But once the new eastern span is completed and opened, the project will still not be complete since crews have to dismantle the old span, a process that could take several years, Ney said.
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