, 127 of those wires are in one strand. there you can see the hexagonal pattern of one strand. we have 137 of those strands that make up that main cable. when they are in place and we have the rest of the hardware, the cable is compacted into a insul cylinder form. that will be happening in 2012. then where we are going today? there. that is the top of the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge. you can see it iis clearly part of oakland and downtown san francisco. that will be empty today and it weighs over 800 tons.

over at the island we have another project to connect this back into the tunnel. here you can see the bridge has been designed, the eastern span, with side-by-side travel. as we come on to the island we have to reorient that traffic into a double deck configuration so it can go into the tunnel and on to the west. so we have the traffic detour and right now we are building the westbound structure that will take the traffic off the suspension bridge and connect it to the top of the tunnel. after that is done we will have the eastbound traffic headed from san francisco to oakland slide underneath that structure and connect into the tunnel on different foundations for seismic regions.

so you see here outriggers. they will support the westbound structure. there is a different foundation for the eastbound structure so the structures can move in a large scale earthquake. and that is what this project is all about. these are a couple of shots that will be clear when you get there. they were taken from a airplane, a helicopter. there is the westbound structure that is being cast right now. you can see the columns down there below for the eastbound structure that we are getting ready to work on. and a shot from the platform of what it looks like toward the self-anchored suspension bridge. so, that is what is happening on the island. here, in oakland, there is a lot of work happening too on the open touchdown portion. i talked about that detour earlier. i want to try to break down for you what is happening here.

with this image, you can see that we've got brand-new, very bright white colored structure that is a new bridge with westbound traffic on the outside, more to the north eastbound traffic sort of in the middle and the existing bridge is the one on the southern part. and here you can clearly see that there is a conflict with the eastbound bridge. why that is why we have only built it that far. that triangle has to be removed before we can build the bridge. the strategy is earlier this year we put in an eastbound detour. we took people heading into oakland farther to the south to clear space so that we could do this westbound detour early next year. so, as you come out of the toll plaza next year after we do the closure we will be routing traffic slightly more south to open this area up. that red triangle right there is

what has to be surgically removed. it will be cut off so that we open up that area in the middle so we can put a construction crew between the bridges and build it out at the same time that we are building the rest of the bridge. that is what is allowing us to open this bridge all at one time. that is what is happening on the oakland side. bridge right now. here is a quick animation and this was the opening of eastbound and west. that is where we will be next year. then take that section out, build the new bridge and open up to traffic. if you can hold there, paul -- can you hold? it also gives you an idea of what the orientation of the bridge will be when we are ready to open it. it will that sort of tight pinch

and there will be a bridge closure associated with an opening of the structure where a lot will have to be done to get it open to traffic. then tonight is going to be first time that we see the construction lighting on the self-anchored suspension bridge. we have loaded some images of what the construction looked like on our sister bridge. this is construction footage from 2002. that is exactly what those lights looked like back then. here is the bay underneath, the old bridge was open. some still shots. so you can see if you hold there, paul, that could be treasure island. it is able to see what this is going to look like. that is what we are pointing out

the first time you will see that look for the new bridge. that is the finished architectural lighting plan. you see the string of pearl lighting on the main cable and lighting standards all the way down the deck. so you are getting a quick and early look at what the final project will be in two years. that is the presentation. if we can bring the lights back up. we are doing pretty good on time. we want to go into q&a right now. >> what size earthquake is the bridge designed to withstand? second, how much can a bridge veer and move if there is an earthquake? >> basically the bridge is designed to handle the largest potential ground motion that would happen within a 1,500-year return period. i know you are looking for a richter scale but that is not how it is done. this straddles two of the

largest faults in the world so we had to identify what the potential motions would be in an earthquake to determine what we would build. ultimately, cal tran came one a new classification to build this bridge and the martinez bridge. the level of earthquake this bridge is designed to handle would potentially disable both san francisco and national airport and oakland airport and we would be receiving material to the air force base and charting them down to the martinez bridge has been built for this criteria. so, as tightly as i can get that >> it is a life line. >> that is exactly what this bridge is designed for. >> most bridges are designed not to fall down. this bridge is designed not only to not fall down, but be

immediately useable by emergency service vehicles and returning to regular use. >> how many lights are there going to be? >> i don't know for sure. there are 114 different strands , spender cables. so it will be somewhere in that magnitude as a string of pearls, but i don't have that number. >> what about construction lighting? >> i don't have that number on construction lighting, but in that ballpark. [inaudible question] >> well, it has to do with temperature. as we pull these steel sections across. with the way that the sun shines down on the strand, part of it is in the sun and part in the shadow. it actually lengthens the strand. you can't take a good

measurement of how long the strand is. we have the workers to that at night. the final tensioning and surveying happens when there is a uniform temperature around the steel. it has to happen. [inaudible question] >> basically you have to measure the bridge at night because the sun strikes the cable and heats up only part of it, and you dope get an accurate reading. >> you mentioned the cable is holding the sections together somehow? >> the cable is anchored down into the eastern side. it comes up and laps around the western side, and the entire cable system, the suspenders that come off of it, they are in tension. there are 28 different deck segments. they are in what is called compression. those two forces are balancing

each other out on this bridge, and the weight is transmitting down the towers. >> holding itself up. >> a traditional suspension bridge, the cable anchors into the ground. this connects into the deck and holds itself up. >> so that time you would describe as a normal person? >> that is a basic description. self-anchored, what does that mean? >> it is a new type of design. there are 30-40 of them around the world. this is going to be the largest one. basically you use a self-anchored pension when i don't have an easy opportunity

to anchor things into the ground. the western bay suspension bridge is actually two suspension bridges anchored together. it has more concrete in it than the empire state building in new york. >> wasn't this done for aesthetic purposes because they wanted to have something making a bold statement? >> one of the early proposals was building a sky way all the way out. aesthetics is extremely important on the bridge. the first and foremost thing that we did -- the reason for this bridge and project is to deliver a life line project to help this region and state when that earthquake comes at some point in the future.

>> when the cable run starts, how long will it take to make the cable and how long will the cable run actually run? >> it will continue until all of the strands are placed. what is also different about the construction process is on a typical suspension bridge, you work on half, and then you shift so that there is only one cable. the entire catwalk system is always in play. there is an opportunity to get out there and see this. but it will continue around the clock to some extent, and that is primarily because the day you pull the strands, and then the night work happens where you are tensioning the strabbeds where they need to be. >> are there anymore safety measures being put in place for drivers on the new span to not get distracted by the new lighting? >> well, this is the first one.

basically we are coming out and saying that this work is happening. we have actually been doing that all the way along. as we started to lift power segment, when we felt like we might be affecting the visuals on the bridge, we put information out there because the bridge is so large, there is no effective way to do that. so letting people know is a big part of our safety. this is a first attempt at that. >> when do the construction workers actually begin work on the cable? >> it has already started really because they are placing the catwalk system and the hardware. the actual work is january of 2012. >> so we won't see work there for a while? >> it is starting now. what they have to do is put that hardware up there. they are going to build a ski

lift on top of the caught walk. they will have big forkts that -- forks that will hold the strands all the way across. that is why we don't begin strand work until next year. the strands came from china. >> you are going to have a walkway so people can walk-on to treasure island. is that part of the plans? >> off the final bridge? >> yes. >> there is a pedestrian path. >> any possibility of extending that to san francisco? >> the metropolitan transportation committee is doing a study on that very possibility right now. >> so there is a possibility? >> there is a possibility. [inaudible question] >> no, there is not going to be public access to the top of the tower. this is a very unique opportunity we are doing today. >> on the next part, the owning of the web detour, how will

that happen? will there be some period of hours or a day where you cannot go on the bridge? >> well, that actually is going to be big news. we are telling you right now we are going to be closing the web portion of the bridge early next year. >> for how long? >> we are still working on that. we are going to have to come back to you with a specific presentation on exactly what is happening there. it is probably going to be a couple of days. we are going to be restriping that whole approach coming out of the toll plaza there. we will come back witt more information, but probably a couple of -- with more information, but probably a couple of days with the web lanes closed. it is the way we usually with -- usually work with the bay bridge. >> any chance on finding a

holiday? >> fingers are crossed. the things that have to happen is we have to be ready from a construction standpoint to do the work, and we also have the weather to work. >> but it might be possibly up to a couple of days for the web -- for the westbound portion? >> you mentioned that the cable strands were made in china. what else is made in china that is going into this bridge and how the work over there went? >> there are a number of countries and states that participated in fabricating elements of the bridge. as far as the suspension is concerned, the deck sections were fabricated in shanghai, championship, as well as the tower sections. and fujon cable, different

company, fabricated the strands for the main cable. the saddles that these sit in, the deviation saddles you saw at the end and on the eastern end, were fabricated in japan at japan steel works. the saddles for each one of these 114 different spender cables were fabricated in the u.k. at good win steel. if you look at the entire eastern span, we have most of the piles and the foundations, these massive footing boxes that the bridge sits in come from exotic places like vallejo, california, corpus christi, texas, and up in oregon and washington. so there are a number of different place that is contribute to providing different structural elements.

if you are looking at steel in particular, there is more domestic steel in the entire eastern span than any other foreign steel component. if you look at the final bridge, a little over 75% of the steel for the eastern span is fabricated in some u.s. mill. >> is there some updated total for the price tag for this project? is it still $6 billion for the price tag? >> it is about that, $6.3. the toll bridge oversight committee, which consists, caltrans and others, and they put out reports that says how we are doing financialally. along with that, there is a $900 million contingency. that is all downloadable from the bay bridge site?

>> are you shooting for 2013? >> late 2013 is when we expect the prinl to be open. [inaudible question] >> it depends. it is very hard to put a date on when this bridge is going to be completed. but the september-november time frame is what we potentially see if you look in the report. but we are doing everything we can to get the bridge open as soon as possible. if we have the opportunity, we will open it as early as we can. but 2013 is when we will open. >> is the america's cup something you are taking into consideration? >> well, i think when it opens, it opens. i think safety is the primary concern for the bridge. but we are going to be working very closely with the america's cup. as we mentioned in the presentation today, there will be a full bridge closure associated with the opening of this bridge. so we will be working with the entire region and state when that time comments, and america's cup as well because i know they are expecting a number of folks in the region for those races.

so we will be in contact with them. again, seismic safety is the main concern of this project. >> have there been any facilities or serious injuries in the construction? >> so far on the construction project of the eastern bay bridge, we have not had a fatality, safety is a prime concern for all of our contractors. it is something we take very seriously, and we hope to continue. >> 33 people died from building the old bay bridge. >> very different time. a lot of safety implementations have happened since the 1930's, but yeah, something like that. >> 280,000 vehicles go across the binge on average. it is one of the busiest bridges in the world and in the nation. >> can you tell us, when did construction start on the bridge? and going back to the videos

that were shown earlier, are those both the video of the steel coming through under the bridge and the archival footage is downloadable? >> both are downloadable. that is the shipment arriving yes. you can download that. what was the part of the question? >> when construction began compared to when it is finished in 2013. >> the bay bridge is actually a series of making projects -- of mega projects. our project began in 2000 with -- in 2002 with the trucks of the skyway. what are you looking at?

>> that is just for the s.a.s., the self anchored suspension portion of the bridge. that is as long as it is. the entire eastern span is 2.2 miles long, made up of oakland touchdown, a sky way portion and the spans. then we have the other spans on the western side that were retrofitted thrurg the 1990's and 2000. the entire bridge is eight miles long. >> any idea how much steel that would have for the whole thing? >> did i just say no? it would be a lot. i have no way to quote how many steel is in the suspension.

>> how many construction workers will work on it? >> it varies depending on time. it is thousands literally when you look at all of the projects together. at any one time we could have a couple of hundred working at any one location. that is what you see here with the folks at pier 7 and out there. any other questions? >> i didn't quite understand how you guys measure the factors. >> most folks talk about a richter scale, but that is hard when building a bridge. richter scale merchandise an epicenter. what we did was consider what the potential ground motion would be from the fault lines.

projecting that forward, we had to figure out what to build for this bridge. there were things we had to innovate that did not exist, and you about playbook at those on our website. any other general questions? thanks, everybody.

>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park

is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing

botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe pain. milk sickness, as it was culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden

petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this

room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think