• Significance: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is one of the most impressive engineering structures in the United States. It is also one of the most important transportation links in the United States, serving as the terminus of an interstate highway and as the linchpin for the transportation network of the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the nation's largest metropolitan regions. The bridge has been recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a nationally significant structure from the standpoint of engineering as well as its importance in the transportation history of California and the nation. The Bay Bridge was also a milestone in the political history of the Bay Area. The history of the Bay Area is filled with controversies over transportation projects, from the 19th century debates over subsidies to the railroads, continuing through the freeway revolt of the 1950s and seemingly endless debates between supporters of transit and highway development in more recent decades. The long debate over construction of the Bay Bridge is remarkable for the fact that the people of the Bay Area and their political leaders united behind it with almost unanimous support. People may disagree as to whether the Bay Bridge is more important for its engineering, its role in transportation history or for its importance in the politics of the area. The structure is highly significant in all of these different ways.
• Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N679
• Survey number: HAER CA-32
• Building/structure dates: 1936 Initial Construction
• Building/structure dates: 1959-1963 Subsequent Work
• Building/structure dates: 1989 Subsequent Work

Related names:

Purcell, C H; California Toll Bridge Authority; California Division of Highways; O'Shaughnessy, Michael M; Davies, John Vipond; Modjeski, Ralph; Motor-Car Dealers' Association; War Department; Ridgway, Robert; Talbot, Arthur N; Galloway, John; Hoover, Herbert; Hoover-Young San Francisco Bay Bridge Commission; Bay Bridge Hoover-Young Commission; Requa, Mark; Fellom, Roy; Andrews, Charles; California Department of Public Works; Kelly, Earl Lee; Woodruff, Glenn; Raab, Norman; Tudor, Ralph; Wood, Howard; Moran, Daniel; Robinson, Holton; Moisseiff, Leon; Derleth, Charles, Jr.; Kelham, George; Meyer, Frederick; Plueger, Timothy; U.S. Steel Corporation; Columbia Steel Company; American Bridge Company; McClintic-Marshall; Transbay Construction Company; Bridge Builders, Inc.; General Construction Company; Morrison-Knudsen Company; McDonald and Kahn; Pacific Bridge Company; Valley Bridge and Iron Company; Raymond Concrete Pile Company; Dravo Construction Company; Bechtel-Kaiser-Warren Company; Utah Construction Company; Clinton Construction Company; Healy-Tibbetts; Moore Dry Dock Company; Judson Pacific Company; Western Pipe and Steel Company; Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company; Kaiser Construction; Pacific Coast Steel; Duncanson and Harrelson; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Plambo Brothers; Clinton Construction Company; T.E. Connolly; Daniels Construction Company; Sullivan Machinery Company; Nelson, John, project manager; Peterson, Dan, consultant; Hansen/Murakami/Eishma, Architects and Planners, contractor; JRP Historical Consulting Services, contractor; Dan Peterson, AIA and Associates, Inc., contractor; OPAC Consulting Engineers, contractor