Skip to main content

Bay Bridge demolition underway in California

Demolition of the Bay Bridge in California is underway at present. A new cable stayed structure now carries traffic and the old steel cantilever bridge is being dismantled piece by piece. The work is being carried out in stages so as to maximise safety and also to meet the tough environmental legislation that forbids any waste material accidentally falling into the waterway. The dismantling process is taking three years in all to complete.
June 26, 2014 Read time: 1 min
Demolition of the Bay Bridge in California is underway at present. A new cable stayed structure now carries traffic and the old steel cantilever bridge is being dismantled piece by piece. The work is being carried out in stages so as to maximise safety and also to meet the tough environmental legislation that forbids any waste material accidentally falling into the waterway. The dismantling process is taking three years in all to complete.

Related Content

  • $6.2 billion Newark Bay Bridge replacement
    July 9, 2025
    The $6.2 billion Newark Bay Bridge replacement project is moving ahead.
  • Almost gone: Canada’s old Port Mann Bridge deconstructed
    August 14, 2015
    Three years ago a welder’s cut halved Canada’s old Port Mann Bridge. David Arminas reports from the banks of the Fraser River. By the time this issue of World Highways reaches you, one of Canada’s iconic steel arch bridges will be a shadow of its former self. It’s been a three-year demolition job since the first cut across the deck of the old Port Mann Bridge just outside the city of Vancouver on Canada’s Pacific coast. A new 10-lane 2.2km Port Mann Bridge opened in 2012 (see box). It runs parallel to the o
  • Demolition underway on bridge structure in Cleveland, Ohio
    June 9, 2014
    Demolition work is progressing on track on the old Innerbelt Bridge in the US city of Cleveland and spanning the Cuyahoga River. At present a demolition contractor is breaking up the structure in stages, using cutting gear and cranes to remove portions of the bridge in a phased programme of works. Once the demolition moves to a certain stage in a few months, the contractor will then be able to use explosives to demolish the remaining structure. Four of the truss bridge’s nine spans are being dismantled usi
  • Environmentally friendly demolition of famous US Bay Bridge to take years
    March 18, 2013
    While the new eastern span of northern California’s Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland will open to traffic this September, the task of taking down the old eastern bridge span roadway is likely to take years. Speaking to a local TV station Brad McCrea, regulatory director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the state agency that oversees protection of the Bay Area, said: “Taking the old Bay Bridge [eastern span roadway] down is as practically as big a project as putting the new one