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. 

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