New Bay Bridge East Span Reaches High Point: Cable Pulling Begins This Week

The twin decks of the under-construction new Bay Bridge East Span were buzzing with activity today as workers prepped for the next phase of the monumental project: the pulling of the main cable of the bridge’s self-anchored suspension span (SAS), which will start this week, likely on Wednesday.

Actually, the process involves the pulling of many separate strands — 137 in all. And each of those strands is made up of 127 individual 5 mm, high-tensile steel wires, each strong enough to support a military Hummer. At a briefing for the media today, Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney predicted that the pulling of the first strand could take up to two days. Once crews get the system down, they will pull two to three strands a week, and perhaps pick up the pace even more.

“This is one of the high points in the construction of this bridge,” said Ney. “You can really see the finish line.”

According to Ney, this is the first time that a cable has been placed in this particular way. The cable will follow the path of the bright orange cable catwalks that have been visible for several months. Each strand will be hooked to a device that functions like a ski-lift, hauling the strand from the anchorage in the eastern edge of the SAS, up and over the 525-foot tower, and down to the western edge of the decks. At the western edge, the strand will be transferred to a second pulling device that will take it around the back side of the bridge; once it rounds the bend, the cable will be hooked back to the primary hauling system for the journey back to the top of the tower down to the western side. The lift will travel at 3 to 5 miles per hour, about the speed of a person walking. (See simulation.)

In between the pulling of each strand, crews will pause to survey the work at night, when temperatures are cooler, to make sure the strand is properly in place.

Multiply the 137 strands by the 127 wires in each strand, and it comes to a total of 17,399 steel wires in the cable. The nearly mile-long strands will be bundled together and compacted into a solid, 2.6-foot diameter cylinder that will act like a giant sling cradling the side-by-side decks. At key points, suspender cables will connect the main cable to the decks.

The new East Span is a project of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, made up of Caltrans, MTC's Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) and the California Transportation Commission.

Progress on the cable installation can be viewed from the new publicly accessible interpretive display located on Treasure Island and online via construction cameras; visit BayBridgeInfo.org for a map to the display and bata.mtc.ca.gov to access the cameras.

— Brenda Kahn