Work has begun on the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Around and under the existing eastern span — a workhorse that carries 280,000 vehicles a day — crews are doing the work that needs to be done before they can start building a bridge.
On the edge of the bay, past the toll plaza and north of the bridge approach, there’s a growing mound of rocks and dirt. After it settles for five years, the huge pile will be lowered, smoothed out and become the Oakland landing for the Bay Bridge.