Going, Going, Gone: Crews Dismantle East Span Catwalks

After years of building up the new Bay Bridge East Span, crews have entered a new phase of the massive construction project: taking things down. Strip by reddish strip, the four catwalks that have traced the profile of the new East Span’s self-anchored suspension span (SAS) have been coming down over the past few weeks, with the final aerial pathway disappearing early this week. The catwalks served as walkways — albeit steep ones — for crews as they hung the SAS’ massive main cable and then the more delicate vertical suspender cables, and more recently, painted the suspension system its trademark color: East Span white. 

As the catwalks have been stripped away, the graceful arc of the main cable has come into sharper focus. Also coming into focus is the SAS tower, which has been revealed in recent days as crews have been dismantling the scaffolding shrouding the 525-foot tall monolith. Down below, crews are continuing to remove the falsework that once held up the twin decks of the SAS, and today started to install “travelers” — moveable platforms that will travel underneath the roadway, enabling maintenance workers to access the bridge.