Crews from Caltrans and American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises joint venture last week placed a steel segment atop the four independent legs of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge’s self-anchored suspension span (SAS) tower.
Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney says the new section, known as the “grillage,” will evenly distribute the weight of the 480-ton cable saddle that will hold the SAS’s nearly mile-long single cable as it passes over the tower. The section is nicknamed the “grillage” due to the position of internal steel plates which create the appearance of a grill grate, Ney says.