up next on a second look it has stood for more than 70 years connecting the east bay with san francisco. tonight we account the amazing project that took nearly five years and gave us the bay bridge. plus the transit system that proceeded b.a.r.t. and actually used the lower deck of the bridge to cross the bay. it's all straight ahead tonight on a second look. hello everyone and welcome to a second look. i'm frank somerville. this is a big weekend for the

bay bridge as caltrans gets ready to cut the ribbon on a new eastern span it. will replace the old span since the bridge opened 77 years ago. at that time the bay bridge was the longest bridge on the world. george watson talked to some of the men who built it on the 50s anniversary on the completion of the original bay bridge back in 1986. there she sits triumphant under the moonlight. as people find a common ground aboard her. she lies anchored like a moor to stride the water. she is the bay bridge. a wonder to us today and a wonder to those who built her 64 years ago. >> i thought it was one of the seventh wonders in the world to me. maybe the eighth. that's what made me want to do it. and besides you were getting

good money then. eleven dollars for eight hours. >> it didn't take a magician to know that bridge was going to be something very special. >> reporter: just how did the depression aged visionaries plan to pay for all of this? the federal reconstruction corporation would loan the builders $62 million. the state would kick in another 13 million. with the money in place the spanning of this engineering frontier could bebegin. the bridge would be 8-1/4 wide. there would be 200,000-tons of steel and 1 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. especially designed case -- dredging would take place at the hollow tubes until they

reached solid bedrock. 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 seem to thrive on it. al zapa was known as the king of the high steel. 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 but nothing like this. this was new to me. >> what made it different? >> the thrill and i guess the guts to go up there and do it. all the thrills every minute something dropped around us, moved around you think the whole thing is going. i used to look across and think

gee, with all the cable, 7/8 diameter. i was thinking i hope the engineers are right. >> reporter: from the bedrock hundreds of feet below the water surface to the towers soaring hundreds of feet above. the men floated steel, dug beneath the waves and strung enough cable to circle the earth three times over. >> when i talked to the men who built the bridge i noticed a common trade among them all. not one of them gave a thought to their working condition. hundreds of feet above the bay and slippery rainfall, a workers agility and concentration were the only safety lines he had. not everyone is cut out for this kind of work and those who weren't found out almost immediately.

>> during the summertime they would apply for a job. applying for the job the superintendent always had a tag. they had pier 24. they walked over to the bridge on the cat walk. day made it to over the water they would freeze. and i think his name was ward the soup intendent. that was the end of that job. >> 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 build the bridge their jobs surely would have been jeopardized. among all the men who could

calmly face the dangers. 24 mistakes were made and they all proved fatal. he remembers the first death as vividly as though it were yesterday. >> one guy was just choker cable. and had a -- you know we call it something else. it got stuck and he choked on himself and it knocked him over. i looked him go locked down and go and he hit the water. he hit flat. you know. although i hollered it was a work out below. he floated. just like you shoot a duck and it falls in the water it floats. his gloves were split in two. his clothes in the back were split in two and he still had

his belt on. i often wondered, we're all excited and we thought he was still alive to see him floating on the water. the other guys went straight down. concern for personal safety didn't seem to worry too many bridge workers. some of them went on their way the court danger. >> it's been against the rules. but we've always had, we get marched into the raging gang they like to show off. they will run an opportunity to run a beam if there's a news man out there with a camera. the largest bore tunnel ever built. but there was something powerfully symbolish about the

towers pylons standing alone in the bay. now it had come to make those pylons into a bridge. george watson continues the story of the building of the bridge. and the system that proceeded b.a.r.t. and actually ran on the bridge.

welcome back to a second look where tonight we're revisiting the building of the bay bridge. ktvu's george watson continues his report from 1986 on the landmark construction project that took 4-1/2 years. >> cable spinning was probably the most dramatic element in building the bridge because now the giant towers would finally be linked together. here in the west bank you can get a better look at the cable that finally did the job. there are 472 wires that were spun together into a strand then 37 of those strands were compressed into the final cable that did the job. the cable becomes the backbone of the suspension bridge. >> reporter: it must have

looked strange this majestic bridge being brought together. 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. >> after the spinning wheel would come by. from one tower to the next they would dug it up. that means they would tighter the one cable to a special machine. they took like 17,000 strands of wire 3/8 of an inch thick. then they would put the cable around it to make it look like a pipe which it isn't. it's just a wound up this other wire all way around it. and it makes it look like that. during the spinning of the

cable, the bridge users finally get a look of safety. it was a confidence booster especially for those nonbridge builders that got to use it. i'm talking about those who documented on camera the work being done. it was a remarkable accomplishment, overwhelming difficult in the early stages of the construction but comparatively easier when thecap cat walks were finally put into place. >> by that time there was no physical danger. it was uncomfortable. i had to carry around the rail physical danger was in the earlier shots which were made by peter stockwell who made

quite a name for himself in the early stages of the steel erection. and he made some spectacular scenes from the cables, cat walk and 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 commuter trains. the bay bridge is the most beautiful bring -- beautiful bridge in the world. it's six or seven different kind of bridges. a tunnel, a suspension bridge, 8-1/2 miles long. from yerba buena island to the center pier on the oakland's side is 109 feet longer than the span of the golden gate.

>> reporter: beauty does seem to rest more comfortably in the eye of the beholding. 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 an extensive urban transit system disappeared. a bit later, san francisco's ferry building when it was the gate way for travel to san francisco. look at them with that u-verse wireless receiver. back in our day, we couldn't just move the tv wherever we wanted. yeah, our birthday entertainment was a mathemagician. because if there's anything that improves magic, it's math. the only thing he taught us

was how to subtract kids from a party. ♪ let's get some cake in you. i could go for some cake. [ male announcer ] switch and add a wireless receiver. get u-verse tv for $19 a month for 2 years with qualifying bundles. rethink possible. pek chjalapeños, bacon,ndles. tomato and avocado. i call it, "the avocado da vinci". create your om'lart with denny's build your own omelette menu.

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 wasn't always the case. from its opening in 1936 all the way into 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 proceeded 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 and it died a slow gradual death. the love of automobiles 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 loss was nothing less than tragic. we had a virtually pollution free system the nucleous of what could have been the best and most expensive in the world. >> if we had put some public money, modest enough of public money into the system we would haved had a terrific transit system. and maybe some of these neighborhoods in oakland that

have since deteriorated would have been around because there would have been a way to get around. the pacific began to reduce service. it also marked a critical time for upgrading on other existing key lines. they weren't repaired but if they were, it's doubtful we would have needed b.a.r.t. today. >> there was enough there in 1945 that put modern equipment both on the line and transbay lines that system could have been modernized far more than ever put into b.a.r.t.

the two bridges were open. the trains needed upgrading but something else happened to speed the demise of the rail system. what happened was illegal and the giant american corporations involved were all found guilty by a jury in a federal court of judge. in 1949 general motors, standard oil, mack truck and others were found guilty of violating the sherman anti trust law. they systematically dismantled with rails and replace them with buses. for this they were charged $50,000 each. some rail systems disappeared literally overnight to be replaced by autos and buses. bussed that were built by mack and rolling on tires built by

firestone. these corporations continued to bury a system that may have been sick but was far from being dead. all of the system had disappeared by 1941. our transit history would undoubtedly by different if not for this case. >> you have the urban trains that went all the way to ch -- chico. that's all. you can say that was all in place in 1941. on december 7, 1941 the day the japanese attacked pearl harbor only the key system was left. if those systems had survived into december of 1941 it's very obvious what would have happened. they would have run all through world war ii. then the situation may have

been different. than marin would have been growing. the sacramento -- b.a.r.t. the b.a.r.t. between walnut creek and concord is on the sacramento northern tracks the right of way. so again here you have the systems being abandoned right in the eve of world war ii. so that's kind of frustrating. >> reporter: while making more stops along the way, the old key was almost as fast as it is today. when the key was running on the bay bridge it took 84 minutes to travel from berkeley to san francisco. today it tacks takes b.a.r.t. 27 minutes. when you consider the fact the key system was a privately owned profit seeking venture it becomes a mighty extensive proposition. it was only four years since the key system ran across the

bay bridge. it didn't take people long to realize that the urban system was lost and that something has to replace it. b.a.r.t. was the answer. all of us that were born came here after 1941 missed something. we had a transit system that was simple, clean and efficient. it was a part of our lives that made commuting less of a chore. when we come back on a second look, it's outlasted the bay area's first inner transit system and the embarcadero

system.

since 1998 folks traveling from san francisco to the bay will be welcomed by the ferry building. >> reporter: turn of the century, san francisco was the most profitable city in the west coast. befitting its stature, builders of san francisco voted to build the new landmark. >> they were fascinated by the electricity coming in. they wanted steel buildings so they would withstand any tension or stress. >> reporter: the new ferry building rested on 5,000 pylons. each one 80 feet long and 60 feet in diameter. arches beneath the water line

gave support to the structures above it. the perry building would soar to heights far above those required by a certain terminal. this was to be a welcoming station well beyond the expectations. inside passengers would be greeted by the grand nave. the power not with standing per happen it is ferry buildings most eloquent statement. 659feet long by day bathed in natural light from above and by night softly transformed into a magical night. >> they would turn pink and peal green. they would change them to any color you would want if you had $50 and were having a party. >> reporter: people would step out of the ferry buildings, smack into the broad faced

exuberance of market street and be greeted by still more trains. >> that was the first thing you would see when you walk out of the ferry building were these streetcars. munni railing and both had the tracks. and all of it being fed by the ferry boat. the ferry building is believed to be 1940 to 1942. the ferry system carried 42 million passengers. but things were beginning to change what happened that by the mid-30s the ferry building has two 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 disappear all together. the life giving ferry building

was starting to atrophy. a ribbon of concrete was strung across the ferry building's facade. there were suggestions it was time to tear down the aging beauty. the embarcadero ferry lasted for 70 years but the ferry building would survive as it always has. still the beautiful understated entrance to the city. >> this has always been the people's building. >> reporter: durable, beautiful and perhaps most important, the ferry building not only survives we're always glad it does. >> and that's it for this week's second look. we hope you enjoyed it. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week.

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