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Sometimes mistaken for the Golden Gate Bridge by camera toting tourists, the Bay Bridge connects San Francisco and Oakland via two discrete bridges and a tunnel through Yerba Buena Island. But do its massive concrete moorings harbor a grisly secret? Not according to NewBayBridge.org, a promotional site for the bridge's new eastern span. Their detailed construction history refutes the urban legend. Tour boat operators are fond of telling their passengers that several construction workers were buried alive inside "Moran's Island," a concrete pier the size of the Empire State Building. It just ain't so. But the construction
of the Bay Bridge did come at a price. During the construction, 24 men died. It cost an astounding $78 million during the height of the Great Depression. It also took 18% of all the steel manufactured in the United States in 1933. These days, the bridge is still in the news thanks to an ongoing debate over which type of design should be used for the new eastern span. It's the age old question of ugly and affordable vs. attractive and expensive.
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