HistoryBubbles

I hate Goodbyes! :'(

Ooh Well…We have reached the end of the quarter and I will definitely miss Professor Ivey. Before her class I had a wrong perspective of history, I was one of those people who thought history wasn’t neither necessary nor interesting. But after these past 4 months I learned so many things about history of California, and the Bay area. Also learned that history can be fun, and that every single thing on earth has history. It’s is very important to know where we come from, how was this place before, how they used to live here before, how did all began. Specially in a place so diverse like California.This is quite interesting, in fact I’m honestly thinking about changing my major to History (lol). Professor Ivey was such a great person, she knew how to explain everything, she was funny and clever and I will definitely recommend her. She’s one of those few professors who actually teaches something valuable. I really enjoyed my experience of my first university quarter as her student.

As it has been discussed previously, the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge not only helped the community to communicate faster but it also revolutionize the method of building among the Bay area. This huge project was financed by caltrans and minor founds from the cities of San Mateo and Hayward. Also this project employed a large amount of veterans. The Bridge was constaltly monitored and maintained by caltrans who performed several fixes and updates. By the year of 1996 Proposition 129: Seismic retrofit bond act supplied major part of the financing to update the bridge. By this time the bridge gained quite amount of popularity because now the bridge was wider and more secure. It’s believed that the experience gain while building the bridge was quite useful for the constructions of the Bay and Golden Gate bridge.

The growing population among the Bay area potentially increased the human waste which most times ended up on the waters of the Bay, thus, contamination issues. It’s important to point out that the waters of the Bay were already partially contaminated before the construction of the bridge, but obviously all the waste, debry and chemicals expelled from machinery during the construction did harmed the water on the Bay. Not to mention the other two bridges that were going to be build across the bay drastically affected the water in the Bay. Despite the ecological damages of the construction to the Bay, these projects were needed for a growing community that was eager for development. From this point on the whole Bay are is connected having access to either side of the Bay. Also making of the Bay area a developed environment providing these bridges to the community.

I hope that Caltrans keep on looking after the bridge making all the updates and arrangements necessary to maintain the bridge secure to commuters. The 7-mile-long bridge and 25th longest on Earth is still standing after almost a century, it will keep on providing its service to the community, but for how long? will it be replace for a more modern one as they are doing to the Bay bridge?

Museum Exhibit

After both of my History classes with professor Ivey and my own research on the San Mateo/Hayward bridge, I have a more clear understanding of the overall history of California, especifically the Bay area and the development such area. Projects like the bridges linking the Bast bay with the peninsula are very important to understand the history and development of the area. Thanks to all these bridges across the San Francisco Bay now commuters can easily communicate to either side in more convenient and secure conditions.

I also think that it’s crucial for the people, citizens, tourists and generations to come to know and understand the importance of these bridges, their history, the reasons why they were created, consequences of such a massive projects and the aftermath benefits of the community having them.

I will probably divide the display in several rooms: The entrance will lead to the main room which contains a huge timeline showing the construction’s progress, images of machinery used, employees working on the project, maybe some interviews with the actual architect and people on the scene. Then there will be several entrances to different themed rooms. For instance one room will show plans and drawings of the bridge which are very valuable documents since this project started about 90 years ago, so showing them will be memorable. Another room will have urban development of the bridge and updates to it like widening project as well as reinforcement against seismic activity, another room will show pictures of traffic on the bridge 10, 20, 30,40 to 90 years ago and next to them footage of a camera displaying current traffic. I will also add a room themed “impacts of the bridge” in terms of ecology, economy, and socially. Another room where other bridges across the bay will be shown. I defenitely will like to add a children room where they can paint, draw, decorate images of the bridge, also including legos and playdow so they can learn playing. Towards the end of the exhibit i want to show a huge image of when the bridge was opened in 1929 and another recent image portraying all changes and updates done to it.

It is very important that adults and children get an overall image of the bridge, that the next time they pass across the bridge they remember the experience in the museum, also that they think about the past as the only bridge linking east bay with the peninsula and the importance of all the population having access throughout the whole area.

So what….?(#5)

The creation of the San Mateo/Hayward bridge marked and era of urban development, communion between different ethnic groups, and advances against seismic activity in the area. Certainly, the remarkably growing population in the Bay Area was the first reason for building the bridge. The 1906 Earthquake and fire in San Francisco, which was also felt throughout the Bay Area, was another important factor that led to the production of this project. San Mateo then became home for most of the victims and refugees of the phenomenon. On the other side of the Bay, Hayward, and industrial city was eager to get all their production out to consumers in less time.

This bridge was the only link from the East bay to the peninsula for about 7 years, Until the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge was built and opened in November 1936. I also think that the San Mateo-Hayward bridge helped the construction of the Bay Bridge in terms of plans, method, and  personnel. Construction gained quite a lot experience building the 7-mile bridge that was now going to be applied to build the Bay bridge. Also, I found out that some of the machinery used for the San Mateo-Hayward bridge was also used in the Bay and Golden Gate bridge. Due to the constant seismic activity along the Bay Area improvements had to be done in San Mateo-Hayward bridge, these improvements that were proven and somehow tested on the bridge were later going to be applied on Bay and Golden Gate bridge.

Not only the construction of the bridge revolutionized the method of building and infrastructure, but it also helped the community in the Bay Area as a whole. First of all, now products made in the industrial Hayward and Oakland were now able to be transported to San Francisco and the south of the peninsula in a faster pace. Also the bridge allowed the connection of both sides of the Bay area, letting people communicate with their relatives faster and in some cases wasting less gasoline. Commuters constantly used the bridge to transport to their jobs. Without a doubt this bridge helped the overall transportation along the Bay, it benefits the entire population in the Bay area.

The ecological impact of the bridge was awful, the waters of the Bay became dirtier and more contaminated, the use of all the machinery run by gasoline and chemical substances that were accidentally expelled in the water potentially harmed the water and all living things within. Even though some administration members opposed to the project because of the aftermath consequences of altering the Bay, they after realized that such project was needed for the development of the area.

The construction of the bridge definitely shows many aspects of history in the Bay Area, the quick growing of population, industrialization, urban development, and advances against seismic activity in the area ans well as consequences of human construction in natural resources like the waters of the Bay. 

 

 

 

Widening & Updates

California Proposition 192, the Seismic Retrofit Bond Act (1996)

Was on the March 26, 1996 primary election ballot in California as a legislatively-referred bond act, where it was approved by 60% of voters,against 39% who didn’t find this bond act necessary . Proposition 192 authorized $2 billion for seismic retrofitting, including $650 million for seismic retrofitting of toll bridges. This act played an crucial and vital role for the maintenance and updates to the San Mateo Bridge, providing about 80% of the total costs for improvements of the bridge.

Due to remarkable growing of population in the San Francisco Bay area this bridge with only two lanes each direction was hugely impacted with terrible amounts of constant traffic. Therefore, a project to widen it was ideal for the transportation department.

Proposals to widen the portion of Route 92 from Route 92/880 Interchange to the high-rise portion of San Mateo-Hayward Bridge from 4 to 6 lanes.  The scope of the project includes a new 60 foot wide trestle on the north side of the existing trestle, mainline metering  and a new mini toll plaza with Electronic Toll Collection.  The east approach widening consists of two (2) structures widening, one structure replacement, a new pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing and an additional auxiliary lane. The westbound HOV (car pool lane) lane will be extended 1 mile east to the Hesperian on-ramp.

After the modernization and updates done to the San Mateo-Hayward bridge, it was quite secure and able to efficiently hold more traffic as well as security to all commuters that were concern with the structures safety. After being placed one of the worst roads among the bay it was then ranked in a fairer position obtaining a positive feedback.

To Be Continued…

(more…)

Fault and Cars…

As a Cal State student I had to take advantage of the resources available on campus. So I went to the school’s library looking for a book that talks about the construction and developments of the San Mateo/Hayward bridge. The first thing I did was to look on the database online, it showed me this particular book called “A report to the Department of Public Works on improvements to San Mateo-Hayward bridge/ Division of San Francisco Bay Toll Crossings, Department of Public Works State of California” which was supposed to be on shelf. However, when I proceeded to search for it I could not find it. I came back the next two days looking for it in 5 different areas. I was getting a little bit frustrated so I went to the front desk asking if this certain book was even in the library;they told me it was, so we went together to look for it, but our attempt was still unsuccessful.  We tried to request it from another campus but the system wasn’t letting us. I felt like the whole world was against me…jk.. Anyway, so I was looking where else I could find a book citing my topic, I went to the Hayward public library and found only one book that was really complete had plans, drawing, photos, letters from Caltrans,and subjects such as improvements, impact economically,socially and environmental consequences. But I wasn’t able to check it out, supposedly that book can’t leave the building, which seemed kind of pointless to me. I had to look for another book that might say anything about the bridge, so I checked out a book about Foster City which briefly mentions it.

This book says that the bridge opened the city commercially to the East Bay, also improved transportation along the bay. Even though, council members opposed to the project, they realized it was a necessity to demonstrate urban development of the area.

As I previously discussed seismic activity on the area was a big concern for the project, so I looked the Faults in the area which are the ones causing earthquakes and motion on earth.

The constant seismic activity specially on the area was a huge concern for the management of the project. The San Andreas Fault that runs a length of roughly 810 miles relies across the bay, including South San Francisco and Hayward. The Hayward fault then became and enemy of the bridge.

Upon competition of the project the San Mateo-Hayward bridge opened traffic lines on May 1929 and it was known by then as San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge being highly used by commuters transporting across the bay. The structure of the bridge was slowly damaged and weakened by the constant motion of the Earth deteriorating the supports and so the concrete. The bridge was once considered the worst evening commute in the Bay Area.  Caltrans(California Department of Transportation) ,who were responsible for maintaining the structure safe for the community, replaced some supports and fixed the concrete issues it presented. In October 1967 the bridge reopened traffic, it fulfill the expectations of commuters who were using this bridge on a daily basis.

It was also important to know the amount of cars that by then existed in the Bay Area. As I researched I found that Oakland was as well a very industrial city hosting many industries including automobile companies like Chevrolet and later Ford. Since I cant find the exact number of vehicles that were running during the 1930’s and 1940’s, I assumed there was a considerably amount of cars running throughout and across the Bay. Due to local companies making these cars and also the noticeable improvements in roads and constructions of bridges such as: San Mateo bridge, and couple years later Bay and Golden Gate bridge. It was obvious the existence of automobiles and so that they needed the development of infrastructure to link commuters among the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Ethnic and minority groups

So…we were told to include  Camarillo’s article to this weeks post. I was thinking and thinking what does the infrastructure and development of pathways on the bay have to do with the ethnic disputes between African American and Latinos and ethnic minorities as a whole in California.

I recall when I used to live Southern California , a town 40 minutes away from Los Angeles, called Moreno Valley, CA. This is a small city in the Riverside county that has a total population of 191,766 of which 51% are Hispanics, the predominately ethnic group, followed by African-Americans adding 25% of population. Even though the difference between these two ethnic groups is quite significant, their conflict was constant. During my high school years there was a lot of confrontation and fights between Mexicans and Blacks, hallways would get crowded as all the students rushed to see them battling. Camarillo’s article reminded me of those times when i witnessed these two ethnic groups fighting.

As we all know San Francisco metropolitan area was one of the most popular destination for immigrants in U.S. The economy in the metropolitan city was stable and attractive. The population was quite diverse, many ethnic groups formed the city and gave it personality. The suburbs of the metropolitan area quickly started to be occupied by refugees from the 1906 earthquake. Is the case of San Mateo as i mentioned before. On the other side of the bay, population in Hayward also increased as many industries settled in. Once these suburbs were occupied by majority of whites; however, blacks, Latinos and other ethnic monirities have established in these areas. “Minority-majority” cities in California have emerged as a new frontier, where African Americans, Latinos, and other non-white groups now find themselves, some for the first time, living together and struggling to coexist and live in peace.

In the article Camarillo talks about three cities in three different metropolitan areas in California. He shows how the population has changed over time, and all the conflicts and struggles society goes through today due to the misunderstanding among cultures.

In April 1930 the population in Hayward was 5,530, about 89% was White Americans, 8.5% were foreign immigrants. Since the 1980’s, to present days this white majority has been decreasing making room for the minorities like African American, Asians, and Latinos to increase in numbers. By the 2010 census the total population of the city of Hayward was  144,186 (this is surprising because i thought Hayward was actually bigger than where i used to live) the majority in the 30’s was down to 34% and minorities like Latinos were up to a 40%, Asians 23% and African American 12%. We see the big shift in population over time.

Moreover, the San Mateo bridge was created to unite the community. Transporting goods and products to either side, allowing relatives to visit their families faster and wasting less diesel, optimal transportation and urban development.  (more…)