Last of the old Bay Bridge east span comes down

The last chunk of the old eastern half of the Bay Bridge, which over the years carried 3 billion motorists on their starry-eyed odysseys to San Francisco, got hauled off to the junkyard Tuesday.

Dozens of demolition workers, two rusty barges, three tugboats and a tall red crane worked together on a sparkling spring morning in an exquisitely choreographed dance of death.

The plan called for the 850-ton chunk, after being cut free of its concrete pilings, to ride off to its fate on two barges.

The barges would be lifted into position beneath the truss by the rising tide, which lifts all boats, barges included.

[...] shortly after 11 a.m., the water level crept high enough to lift the barges into contact with the truss and free it from its concrete pier.

Maroney, in a charitable mood, did not mention the old cantilever bridge’s darkest hour — the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — when a 50-foot section of the upper bridge deck collapsed, leading to the death of a 23-year-old woman.

Building the spectacular self-anchored suspension span took 11 years.

Maroney said the recycled steel will probably cross the Pacific on freighters, get melted down and made into brand-new things and then be brought back to the U.S. on freighters, to be sold all over again, for more than 10 cents a pound.