Crews poured concrete for the final deck section of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Saturday, marking a major milestone in the new bridge's completion, transportation officials said.
About 136 trucks delivered enough concrete to fill a nearly 2,000 foot-long section on the Oakland side of the new bridge.
The section that was worked on Saturday is called the Oakland Touchdown and is the 4,229-foot-long easternmost section of the new span. It is just west of the toll plaza and will be the link for westbound drivers to the new East Span.
Transportation officials say the massive concrete pour was more than two years in the making.
Because of detours put in place two years ago, construction crews have been able to ensure that both eastbound and westbound lanes of the new bridge will open to traffic at the same time.
Under the original building plan, the eastbound lanes would have been finished up to six months after the westbound portion opened to traffic, according to transportation officials.
Colorado-based Firestone, Inc. is the main contractor working on the easternmost part of the new bridge.
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The 1.2-mile-long Skyway was completed in April 2008, the last deck section of the Self-Anchored Suspension Span was placed in October 2011, and the Yerba Buena Island Transition Structure’s road- decks were completed by the end of 2012, according to Caltrans.
The new bridge is set to open to traffic in Labor Day weekend.
