New Fishing Pier Proposed For Below SF Bay Bridge Span

The excellent San Francisco Chronicle business reporters Matier and Ross had a report today about San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge leaders planning to construct a fishing and walking pier below the iconic bridge’s span near Yerba Buena Island, which sits around the halfway point of the bridge that connects San Francisco and Oakland.

Why transportation officials are proposing to spend $18 million on a fishing pier off backside of #YerbaBuenaIsland. #MTC https://t.co/HyZD1IuHqr via @sfchronicle

— Matier and Ross (@matierandross) January 22, 2018

Here’s a little more on the project from the authors:

Bait your lines, boys and girls — Bay Bridge officials want to build an $18 million fishing and sightseeing pier at the base of the eastern span where it meets Yerba Buena Island.

And while some may view a 6,000-square-foot sightseeing platform — connected by a 120-foot-long, 15-foot-wide walkway to the backside of a little-traveled island — as a boondoggle, bridge officials say it’s actually a bargain.

In fact, it may even save money.

Here’s the story:

To obtain the federal, state and local permits needed for the new eastern span, builders had to agree to take down the old span’s foundation piers — all the way to the bottom of the bay.

“They call it demo below the mud line,” Rentschler said.

So for the past year, bridge crews have been setting off underwater charges to implode the old piers at a cost of $94 million.

The report also states that imploding the closest pier to the island can’t safely be imploded, the solution is to place the new fishing pier atop that one.