[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2048-E2049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 HONORING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND BAY BRIDGE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 15, 2011

  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues 
to recognize the 75th Anniversary of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay 
Bridge. A historic work of modern engineering once believed to be 
impossible, the completion of the ``Bay Bridge'' opened up 
groundbreaking transit channels and changed the face of the Bay Area as 
we know it.
  The Bay Bridge was not only significant for its innovative 
engineering. It also created a new chapter in transportation history 
and represented an unprecedented feat of political and public consensus 
in the early 20th Century. At the onset, the Chief Engineer for the Bay 
Bridge California Toll Bridge Authority, Charles H. Purcell, 
encountered several obstacles. He was faced with four-and-a-half miles 
of water in between the two metropolitan areas of the Port of Oakland 
and San Francisco shoreline. No one had ever contemplated a bridge so 
long, so expensive or with such deep piers.
  The idea for a bridge had been popular since the days of the Gold 
Rush. However, with the increasing prevalence of the automobile, a 
reliance on railroads to bolster trade and an already crowded ferry 
system, the need for a bridge became so great that Bay Area leaders 
were able to persuade President Herbert Hoover and the former 
independent U.S. agency Reconstruction Finance Corporation to advance 
approximately $62 million in federal funding for the ambitious project.

[[Page E2049]]

  The California Toll Bridge Authority formed as a result of the 
California State Legislature's 1926 passage of a law calling for a 
policy-making body to bridge San Francisco and Alameda County. As early 
as 1930, formal plans for the Bay Bridge began to take shape among 
Purcell and his colleagues. First, in order to address the issue of 
length, it was decided that a suspension bridge and cantilever bridge 
would meet at Yerba Buena Island.
  In order to design what is now one of the longest bridge spans in the 
world (23,000 feet), employing the world's deepest bridge pier (242 
feet underwater) and the earth's largest diameter bore tunnel (76 feet 
wide by 56 feet high), Purcell turned to some of the most experienced 
bridge engineers in the country, including Ralph Modjeski, Leon 
Moisseiff and Daniel Moran. The low bidders for construction of the job 
included some of the giants of construction contracting, including the 
American Bridge Company, McClintic-Marshall for the steel work and the 
``Six Companies'' contractors for the foundation work.
  In total, over 8,000 workers from around the Bay Area and across the 
country produced the complicated and dangerous work, logging 214,870 
``man-days,'' at what would now be considered an unthinkable speed. And 
although there were no mass incidents during the building, we also pay 
tribute today to the hundreds of workers who were injured on the job 
and the over two dozen men who lost their lives.
  After three years of construction, the Bay Bridge opened for traffic 
and to huge public fanfare on November 12, 1936--six months ahead of 
schedule. Today, after several modifications to allow for the 
unexpected flood of increased traffic in the 30s and 40s, seismic 
retrofit after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and continued 
improvements, the Bay Bridge carries over 270,000 vehicles per day on 
its two decks. It has repaid and reinvested its $77 million price tag 
many times over in the last 75 years. Most importantly, it has allowed 
for the growth, progress and unification of the Bay Area's vital urban 
areas to the benefit of its residents.
  Therefore, on behalf of the residents of California's 6th, 9th, 11th, 
and 13th Congressional Districts, we extend our congratulations on this 
important milestone. We express immense gratitude to the countless 
people who have contributed to the continued success of the San 
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and wish you all the best in the coming 
years.

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