I made my final crossing of the 77 year old eastern span of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge on August 23, 2013. Last night just after 8pm with little fanfare a Yellow 1930 Ford Model A passed through the toll plaza to become the last car to cross the Eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

If all goes according to plan, the new Eastern span of the Bay Bridge will open at 5AM on Tuesday September 3rd. Caltrans officials hope that the 5 day shutdown of the Bay Bridge which carries 280,000 vehicles a day will not cause too much gridlock on the other bridges leading into San Francisco.

View of the new Eastern span from the lower deck of the old Eastern span of Bay Bridge.

The zig zag on the old span added so the new Eastern span could be built.

View of the new Eastern span just passed Treasure Island.

View from upper deck of old Eastern span of the new Bay Bridge. I guess if you are going to tear down a bridge, you don’t spend too much time maintaining the road.

September 10, 2013 update: The new Eastern span of the Bay Bridge opened with no problems and within the planned time schedule. It’s a really nice looking bridge. Of course if you go over budget by $4 or $5 billion dollars and are 10 years late, then you really should do a good job.

View of  the new Eastern span as seen while driving across with the setting sun and fog in the background.