San Francisco Bay Bridge

San Francisco Bay Bridge is actually the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge starting in San Francisco Bay Area of California in order to bridge the watery gap between there and Oakland. The bridge is on Interstate 80 as the most direct route. Each day the bridge sees about 270,000 vehicles on its two decks. The bridge has one of the longest spans in the world.

The idea of the bridge came about during the gold rush; however, construction did not begin until 1933 for the toll bridge. It was designed by Charles Purcell and construction was completed by the American Bridge Company. In 1936 the first traffic lane was open. This was six months before traffic was possible on the Golden Gate Bridge.

The upper deck of San Francisco Bay Bridge is for automobiles. Trucks and trains were on the lower deck until the Key System was closed. Now the lower deck is also for road traffic. There was a closure for repair in 2009 to help avoid any bridge catastrophes that could result from improper maintenance. The unofficial name of James Sunny Jim Rolph Bridge is known to the locals, but is rarely used.