Welcome back to the A to Z 2021 Blogging challenge. I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s visit to San Francisco. Today we are going to look at some ways to get to and from the City.
There are two bridges that connect San Francisco with the rest of the area. One is more famous than the other and I may talk about that later in the alphabet but today we have the Bay Bridge. It spans the San Francisco Bay to the east and connects with Oakland on the other side. The original bridge was designed by Charles H. Purcell and opened in 1936. It is one of the longest bridges in the United States.
There are two sections of the bridge, separated in the middle by Yerba Buena Island. The west side is a double decker with cars going east on the bottom and west on the top. That portion has been named the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge after former SF Mayor Willie Brown. I never call it anything other than the Bay Bridge.
-
The West (San Francisco) side of the bridge -
Hard to tell but there are two decks, upper and lower.
The east side used to be the same but you may or may not have heard about a little earthquake we had in 1989 that caused a section of the top of the bridge to fall on the bottom. The bridge was closed for a month but it took 11 years and a lot of money to build a new section. It was quite interesting to see the construction going on during those years, but the most interesting was when the new section was finally completed and the old section was taken down. There is a video of some of that here.
In 2013 lights were installed on the bridge, intended to be for a short time only to commemorate the 75th year of the bridge but the project was so well received that it has continued. There are about 25,000 LED lights on the span and they go on and off in patterns selected by random number generator so they are always different. Also interesting is that you cannot really see the lights when you are driving across so as not to cause a distraction. Because of the unique system, the cost of operating the lights is only about $15 to $30 a night. Currently there is a program through the “Shine It Forward: The Bay Lights project” where for $100 you can actually dedicate one of the lights to someone and it will be yours forever. How romantic would that be for a Valentine’s Day or Anniversary gift? I mean, $100 is about what you pay for a bunch of roses that die anyway, right?
Here is a view of the San Francisco shoreline as seen coming from Oakland to SF. The pictures were taken several years apart because as you can see the buildings have changed. Sorry for the blurriness but it’s not easy taking pictures out the car window or even from a boat!
-
A view of the San Francisco skyline as seen from the Bay Bridge. -
And from a boat in the Bay several years later.
B is also for BART which stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit and is one of the ways to navigate through San Francisco. It runs from Millbrae in the southwest and connects to San Francisco International Airport and then goes through San Francisco and under the Bay to the other side north, east and south.
We use it quite often (or did before Covid) to go to San Francisco to see shows or over to Oakland to see concerts. The San Bruno Station is quite close to our house so technically we could walk there but we usually drive since we’d be coming home late at night. There are 8 stops in San Francisco, making it really easy to get to different parts of the City. It is reasonably priced too, especially considering what it costs to park in SF or in Oakland. It is a little scary knowing you are going under the bay in a tube and sometimes the speed makes my ears pop.
They have been starting to remodel some of the trains and repair some of the stations. I haven’t been on a trip since the pandemic but the website lists all the different measures they are taking to make it safer for everyone. I remember taking my first ride in 1982 when I went to my first real concert, Day on the Green in Oakland.
That’s it for “B” I guess. What do you think of those lights? Come back tomorrow for “C.” Any guesses?
Disclaimer notice. The coloring book pages are from the inserts the San Francisco Chronicle put out and I mentioned them in my theme reveal so you can go to that to get the info about the artists if you are interested. I did the coloring and all the picture taking.
from WordPress https://scr4pl80.wordpress.com/2021/04/02/a-to-z-2021-b-is-for-bay-bridge-and-bart/
I absolutely love these bridges. Thank you for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna. It is kind of like you see something all the time and you don't realize how special it is.
DeleteI do like the lights on the bridge. While I'm not sure I'd actually purchase one, I'd certainly pick on out and pretend it was mine. :-) Fun post Janet.
ReplyDeleteOh, great idea, Deborah. The kids thought I was crazy for thinking about it!
DeleteHi, Janet!
ReplyDeleteThis was very educational, dear friend. I well remember the frightening footage taken in the wake of the 1989 earthquake. The Bay Bridge is awesome, but I would feel somewhat apprehensive about traveling on or beneath it because the possibility of another strong tremor would linger in the back of my mind. Mrs. Shady has that same fear when driving over our Sunshine Skyway Bridge which was rammed by a runaway ship in the early 80s and broke apart, sending dozens of vehicles into Tampa Bay resulting in many deaths. I think I'd feel the same apprehension about a quake if I rode the BART rapid transit line and traveled under the S.F. bay. My irrational fears aside, the bridge is a marvel of architecture, and the random, ever-changing light pattern on it must be quite beautiful at night. I like the fact that the lights add lots of eye appeal and enhance the bridge's value as an area landmark and yet don't cost very much.
Enjoy the rest of your evening, dear friend Janet, and I'll "C" you tamale!
Thanks my friend. It really is something to see and when I am in certain seats at the Giant's games I can see it then too. Double the entertainment!
DeleteI remember that bridge from The Streets of San Francisco...a tv show from the 70s starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. I, too would be a little worried about an earthquake but I also know that the engineers take this under consideration when dealing with cities in high earthquake zones. I would be scared of the bridge just because I am very phobic of heights.
ReplyDeleteYes! I forgot to mention TV and the movies! Thanks for adding that. Now they do for sure.
DeleteBeautiful Bridges ;)
ReplyDeleteOh what memories!! I crossed that bridge almost daily for 3 years when we lived on Treasure Island. Getting onto the bridge from Yerba Buena, east bound, was INTENSE because there wasn't a merging lane, so we were going from a complete stop into the "slow" lane, but it was difficult to see oncoming traffic coming through the tunnel. To top it off, we had a 5 speed manual transmission. It took some mighty fast shifting. Good thing we were young at the time... I don't think my heart could take it now. (Or maybe they've changed that merging situation since we lived there.)
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the bridge all lit up. The last time I visited was in 2009, before the new lights were added.
Yes, my pictures definitely don't do justice to the lights. It is quite a show. I cannot imagine trying to drive through SF with a gear shift! I get scared with my automatic.
DeleteJanet,
ReplyDeleteIf we ever get to San Francisco, I want to photograph some of these bridges. I think DH's oldest brother was stationed either in there or San Diego in the 70s. I can't remember.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Art Sketch. Happy A2Zing!
They are some pretty impressive bridges if I do say so.
DeleteThe bridges are impressive
ReplyDeleteThey really are and I think we tend to take them for granted since we see them all the time.
Delete