Im frank summerville. This is a big weekend for the bay bridge as caltrans gets ready cut the ribbon on the new eastern span. It will replace the old span in place since the bridge opened nearly 77 years ago. At that time, the bay bridge was actually the longest bridge in the world. And ktvus George Watson talked to some of the men who built it on the 50th anniversary of the completion of the original bay bridge back in 1986. Reporter there she sits. Triform pant in the season triumphant in the sunlight and listening as thousands of strangers finds a common bond aboard her in their journey across the bay. She lies anchored like a great gray dread not. More to stride the waters. She is the bay bridge. A wonder to us today and a wonder to those who built her 64 years ago. One of the september wonders of the world to seventh wonders of the world to me. Thats what made me want to do it and be a part of it. And besides good money then. Only 11 for eight hours. It didnt take any magician to know that bridge was going to be something very special. Reporter and just how did the depression plague visionaries propose to say for this . The biggest most expensive bridge ever constructed. The federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation itself a child of the depression would loan the builders 62 million. The state would kick in another 13 million. With the money in place the spanning of the engineering frontier could begin. The bridge would be eight and a quarter miles long. The tunnel through the island, the biggest of its kind. There would be 200,000 tons of steel and one million cubic yards of concrete. The project would provide work for more than 6,000 men over three years. Laying the foundation was probably the most difficult task facing the builders. Specially designed caissons were dredged to the floor of the bay. This may have been the most difficult part of the operation but it was not the most dangerous. Once the foundations were laid then work could begin on the towers. Men would now be working hundreds of feet above the water but the raising gang seemed oblivious to the constant danger, in fact many thrived on it. Al was known as the king of the high steel in his bridge building days and now 82, he recalls that the only doubts he ever had while working on the bay bridge was that it might fall down. I worked on a lot of bridges and a lot of others but nothing like that. This was new to me. What made it different . Well, the thrill and the just the guts to go up there and do it. And all the thrills every minute something drop and smooths around you know. Think the whole thing is going. And i used to look across with all the way to the cable. And see 28 and 7 8s diameter and away from this tower now and how can the cable were still putting on steel . I said ooh i hope the engineers are right. The people walked the bridge slowly rise from the bedrock hundreds of feet below the Water Surface to the tower soaring hundreds of feet above. The men floated steel, dug beneath the waves, strung enough cable to circle the earth three times over. When i talked to the men who build the bridge i noticed a common trait among them all. They didnt give a thought to their working conditions. Hundreds of feet above the bay and gusty winds and slippery wet fog, a Bridge Builders agility and concentration were the only safety lines he had. Not everyone is cut out for this kind of work and those who werent found out almost immediately. Lot of the others big Football Players but just usc. Doing the summertime they applied for a job. And then applying for the job, the stupid they thought to have a tag and pier 24. They walked over to the bridge on the catwalk. A lot of the men were fine. But the minute they were over the water, they freeze. And i think his name was ward, the superintendent. He was about your size too and he had hands like a baseball glove. And when he turned that chin on him. Boom. Out they go and he put a tag on him and down they haul him to the boat and he went off to work. [ laughter ] that was the end of that job. Reporter it is probably the best thing that ever happened to those men who froze unprotected high above the bay. Because if they had gone on to help build the bridge, their lives surely would have been jeopardized. Atop the bridge, they would have been unsure and therefore twice as vulnerable. Among all the men who could calmly face the hazards of the job the stakes mistakes were still made. In the building of the bridge 24 mistakes were made and they all proved fatal. Al saw three men toy during construction. He remembers the first death as vividly as though turn yesterday. Well one guy just pulling a choker cable you know and it had a a you know, we called it Something Else. It got stuck and he jerked on it soon and it come up and hit him in the mouth and knocked him over. I seen him go and i locked down and looked down and he was going. And he hit the water. He hit flat. You know. And so i was hollering and there was a boat down below. We got in a row boat and three of us went and picked him up like when you shoot a duck in the water and just floated. Youd think itd go down. It didnt. So i was there we picked him up. His gloves was split in two and his clothes and back was split in two. And he he still had his belt on you know with the wrenches and all. And i often wondered you know, were all excited and we thought we still alive see him floating on the water. The other guys went right straight down. Concern for personal safety didnt seem to worry too many of the bridge workers. Some of them went out of their way to court danger even if it was against the rules. That was showmanship and that was against the rules. From the time that i broke into the business, thats been against the rules. But weve always had we get ones into the ganglike we call them and theyll grab an opportunity to ride a big beam if theres a newsman out there with a camera. Reporter once the tours were built there was still much work to be done. The largest bore tunnel ever intimate was being gouged out of the island. The cantilevered section of the bridge was still considered to be much more difficult to build than the west side suspension bridges. But there was something powerfully symbolic about the towers. Pylons standing alone in the bay. Now, the time had finally come to make those towers a bridge. Still to tom on a second look. George watson continues to story of the building of the bay bridge. And a bit later, the Transit System that preceded b. A. R. T. And actually ran on the lower deck of the bay bridge. Welcome back to a second look. Where tonight were revisiting the building of the bay bridge. Ktvus george atson continues his report now from 1986 on the Landmark Construction project that took four and a half years. Cable sink was probably the spinning was probably the most dramatic element in building the bridge. Now the towers would be linked together finally. Here in the west you can get a better leek at the cable that finally did the job. There are 472 wires that were strung together into a strands and 37 of the strands were compressed into the final cable this did the job. The cable becomes backbone of the suspension bridge. It must have looked strange. This majestic bridge being linked together by an archaic Spinning Wheel but this is the way it was. Loop after loop for weeks the wheels went back and forth laying 17,000 strands of wire to form a single cable. The adjustor and the cable. After the Spinning Wheel would come by, from one tower to the next, they would digging it up and that would mean they would tighten the one cable to a special machine there. That they spent like 17,000 strands of wire. Which 3 8s of an inch thick in diameter. After they did that they had to put the cable around it to look like one pike. After you go around the bridge youre thinking its a pipe. It isnt its a bunch of wire and it just wound up the other wire all the way around it. And it makes it look like that. Reporter during spinning of the cable, the Bridge Builders finally receive some measure of safety. A catwalk was strung between the towers. It still looks like rather skimpy protection but it was a confidence booster especially for the nonBridge Builders who had to use it. Im speaking of the filmmakers who shot the footage of the bridging of the bay. They were up there with the raising gangs, the cable spinners and the riveters. Imagine if you will the difficulty of actually working on the bridge. Then imagine being up there hundreds of feet above the bay carrying a camera, tripod, sound equipment and two car batteries to provide the necessary juice. It was a remarkable accomplishment. Overwhelmingly difficult in the early stages of construction, but comparatively easier when the catwalks finally were put in place. By that time, there was no physical danger. It was uncomfortable and ratter taxing to carry all the gear i had to carry around. The real physical damage was in the earlier shots which were made by peter stackfold who was mostly a still photographer and made quite a name for himself in the liuka shots he made in the early stages of the steel erection. And he made some spectacular scenes from the cables, catwalks as well as the tower places. Looking down some 300 feet to the ferry boats below. Reporter the work continued. Six months ahead of schedule the bridge was finished in november of 1936. The upper deck was six lanes of two way traffic. The lower deck reserved for trucks and commuters trains. The bay bridge is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Even a lot prettier than the golden gate. Its six or seven different kind of bridges. Got tunnel. Got a suspension bridge and eight and a half miles long. From the island to the center pier, on the oakland side. Is 109 feet longer than the span of the golden gate. Reporter beauty does seem to rest most comfortably in the eye of the beholder. When we come back on a second look, the key system providing transit in the east bay and across the bridge to San Francisco. How an efficient and Extensive UrbanTransit System disperiod. Plus a bit later San Franciscos ferry built in when it was the gateway for travel to San Francisco. Tonight on a second look, the bay bridge. For more than 50 years, cars have been driving on both the upper and lower decks of the bridge. But that wasnt always the case. From its opening in 1936, all the way until 1962, only trucks and trains used the lower deck while cars drove in both directions on the upper deck. And those trains belonged to an early Transit System that preceded b. A. R. T. It was called the key system and every day it carried commuters around the east bay and to and from San Francisco. Back in the 1980s, George Watson brought us the story of how we lost the key system. Reporter by 1958, it was gone. But it died slow gradual death. The opening of the golden gate and bay bridges and the love affair with the automobile led to the demise of the ferries first then the trains. Despite the Important Role the key system was playing on the bay bridge route. The transit loss in light of todays needs was tragic. We had a cheap efficient pollution free Transit System. The nucleus of what could have been the best and most extensive in the world. Frustrating thing i suppose looking back is that if we had put some public money and modest amount of public money into the key system and trains on the bridge, the local streetcar lines and bridges and trolleys that was fine. We would have had a terrific Transit System and maybe some of the neighborhoods in oakland we may have stayed as commuter neighborhoods because it would have been worthwhile to live in the neighborhoods and commute to down on the San Francisco or oakland. The key system lasted until 1958 but in 1939 both the key and southern pacific began to reduce service. But it was also the year the key began running trains on the bay bridge. It also marked a critical time for repair and upgrading on other existing key lines. Well, they werent repaired but if they had been, its doubtful we would have ever needed b. A. R. T. Today. After the trains go on the bay bridge we see the thing in decline. There was enough there in 1945 that with modern equipment both on the streetcar line and on the transbay lines, that that system could have been modernized for far less than what it cost to buy to create a transit plan 15 years late score obviously more than it cost ever to build b. A. R. T. Reporter people were taking to the auto. The two bridges were open. The trains needed upgrading and Something Else happened to speed the demise of the bay areas inner urban system. What happened was illegal and the giant american corporations involved were all found guilty by a jury in a federal court of law. In 1949, General Motors, standard oil, mack truck, National City bus lines, Phillips Petroleum and others were all found guilty of violating the sherman antitrust act. They systematically dismantled rail Service Across the country and replaced the rails with buses. For this they were fined 5,000 each. Hardly enough to throw any of the involved corporations into receivership. Some rail systems disappeared overnight to be replaced by autos and buses. Buses which were built by General Motors and mack. Fueled by chevron and phillips and rolling on tires built by firestone. So only with the pursuit of profit at the expense of the common good. These corporations proceeded to bury a Transit System that was indeed sick but far from dead. In fact all but the key and southern pacific had disappeared by 1941. If they had been allowed to hang on until world war ii began our transit history would be undoubtedly different. You had the southern pacific and red trains on the bay bridge and you had the southern sacramento bay train that is went into chico and you had the northwestern trains in marin county. On december 7th, 1941, the day that japanese attacked pearl harbor, only the key system was left. Now if those if those systems had survived into december of 1941 its very obvious what would have happened. They would have run through world war ii and then again the situation may have been different. Then marin would have been growing. Then Contra Costa County would have been growing. However b. A. R. T. Between walnut creek and concord is on the sacramento northern tracks the right of way. So again, here you have these systems being abandoned on the eve of ward war 2. One minutes apart to the waiting commuter ferry boats and making more stops along the way, the old key was still almost as fast as b. A. R. T. Is today. When a key was running on the bay bridge it took 28 minutes to travel from University Avenue in berkeley to San Francisco. Today, it takes b. A. R. T. 27 minutes. When you consider the fact that the key system was a privately owned profit seeking venture, and that b. A. R. T. Is a 1. 7 billion publicly subsidized operation, that one minute difference becomes a mighty expensive proposition. In 1962 when the voters decided to fund b. A. R. T. It was only four years after the last key system train ran across the bay bridge. It didnt take people long to realize that a wonderful inner urban Transit System was lost and that something had to replace it. B. A. R. T. Was the answer. All of us who were born or came here at 1941 after 1941 missed something. We had a system that was simple. Clean and efficient. It was a part of our clives and it made lives and it made commuting less of a chore. Going to take a Sentimental Journey going to set my heart at ease going to take a Sentimental Journey to renew old memories when we come back on a second look, its outlasted the bay areas first interurban Transit System and the embarcadero freeway. The survival of San Franciscos Ferry Building. Since 1898. Folks traveling to San Francisco from the east or north bay have been growthed by an enduring landmark, the Ferry Building and ktvus George Watson first brought us the history of San Franciscos Ferry Building back in 2001. Reporter turn of the century, San Francisco was the most important and prosperous commercial city on the west coast. Befitting its stature they wanted a grand entrance to the marketplace. Orders from california approved the bond measure to build San Franciscos new landmark. They were fascinated by electricity that was coming in. They wanted a steel frame building to withstand any kind of tension or stress. When this was built it had the largest foundation in the world. Reporter when finished in 1898, new Ferry Building rested upon more than 5,000 oregon fir pilings. Each one 80 feet long and 16 inches in diameter. Graceful romanesque averages beneath the water line gave support to the structure above. The Ferry Building would soar to aesthetic heights far above those required by a simple terminal. This was to be a welcoming station well beyond the expectations of the tens of millions who would pass through it. Inside, passengers would be greeted by the grand knave. A tower notwithstanding perhaps the Ferry Buildings most eloquent statement. 659 feet long, by day bathed in Natural Light from above. And by night, softly transformed into a magical hall of lights. There would be white and gold at christmas time and theyd be pale blue at another time. In the spring they turn pink and pale green. If you had 1,000 theyd change them to any color you want. If you were going to San Francisco, the ferry boat was the last leg of your journey. People would stem out of the Ferry Building smack into the broad based exuberance of Market Street and be growthed by still more train greeted by still more people. That was the person you see when you walk out of the Ferry Building was the streetcars, they both had tracks. Reporter and all of it being fed by the Ferry Building. The golding age of the for rid building is generally considered to be between 1915 and 1932. The ferry system had 43 ferry boats carrying 47 million passengers year by 19 a year by 1932. Things were beginning to change. What happened . By the mid 30s the Ferry Building had two brand new rivals. The bay bridge opened in 1936. With the Golden Gate Bridge opening the following year. The automobile lurking in the wings now took center stage. Ferry boat traffic began to fall off dramatically. By 1939 Service Began to diss peer altogether disappear al together. The life giving Ferry Building was suddenly starting to atrophy. In 1957 the freeway was born a child of the automobile. A ribbon of concrete was strung aloss the Ferry Buildings facade. There were suggestions it was time to tear down the aging beauty. The embarcadero freeway lasted for 35 years but the Ferry Building would survive as it always has. Amountered and redefined many times but still the beautiful, understated entrance to the city of San Francisco. This has been the peoples building and the people have felt great pride and joy in it because they love the city. Its the natural entrance to the city. And hey, it lived through two earthquakes. Reporter durable, beautiful and perhaps most important, the Ferry Building not only survives, were always glad it does. And thats it for this weeks a second look. Hope you enjoyed it. Im frank somerville. Well see you again next week. [ captions by caption colorado, llc 8007757838 email comments captioncolorado. Com ] yeah, our babysitter didnt have a million ways to serve mom up on a silver platter. We had to count sheep to fall asleep. And i always worried that i was creating an overcrowded sheep farm. In my head. Never looked like that farmer took proper care of those sheep. Too much . A little. [ male announcer ] connect all your wifienabled devices with uverse high speed internet. Rethink possible. All right, thats the last servo. Behold the mobile omnidirectional neutralization and termination eradicator. Or. All monte. 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