Description
The collection documents the planning and structural engineering of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge from the project
binders of junior bridge engineer, Nathan Davis Whitman, Jr., who worked for the State of California Department of Public
Works, Division of Highways from 1932 until 1935. Materials range in date from 1930-1968, with the bulk of the materials from
1932-1936, and include blueprints, calculations, design specifications, plans and elevations, reports, and articles about
the bridge.
Background
Construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge began in 1933 and the bridge opened to traffic on November 12, 1936,
six months before the Golden Gate Bridge opening, and prior to San Francisco's hosting of the World's Fair in 1939. The bridge
was an engineering marvel as well as a political achievement. Several design and structural elements were used in the plans
to help span the deep waters of the Bay and the distance between the two cities. The design was a double decked suspension,
cantilever bridge with truss causeway and tunnel. The bridge had the deepest bridge pier of its time on the existing East
Span and still holds the world record for the widest single-bore tunnel, which passes through Yerba Buena Island.