Caltrans Implodes 2 of 13 Remaining Foundations of Old Bay Bridge
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Caltrans demolished two of the remaining 13 concrete piers that used to hold up the eastern span of the Bay Bridge on Saturday.
Saturday's implosions were the first of six detonation events scheduled to take place every other weekend until mid-November. Caltrans began demolishing the old eastern span in September 2013 after the new eastern span opened to traffic. Pier E3, which was the largest pier and the closest to Yerba Buena and Treasure islands, was removed in 2015 and piers E4 and E5 were removed in 2016.
Saturday's detonation took place shortly after 10:30 a.m., blasting Piers 7 and 8, to the east of the piers that were previously removed.
Brian Maroney, Caltrans' chief Bay Bridge engineer, said Caltrans used a blast-attenuation system, called a "bubble curtain," to minimize impacts to biological resources in the bay.
Caltrans streamed the event on its YouTube channel.
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