HistoryBubbles
I hate Goodbyes! :'(
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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
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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)
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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.
HistoryBubbles 