The Blog

In 2017, Woolpert supported the demolition of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's original eastern span. Woolpert surveyed the area beneath the original and new eastern span to locate the exact positions of cables and pipelines. This data was integral throughout the project when moving spud barges and anchors around the bridge.

Woolpert also had an important supporting role in the preparation, detonation, and post-blast cleanup of each bridge pier. Demolition teams needed to establish a continuous curtain of bubbles around the foot of each pier to reduce the blast energy during the explosion. To accomplish this, they placed 50 ft. long bubble curtain frames around the bridge pier. After each frame was placed, Woolpert surveyors provided a multibeam survey to ensure the bubble curtain frames were placed in the correct location. Minutes after each pier was demolished, a Woolpert vessel performed a multibeam survey to ensure the structure was reduced to the desired depths. Woolpert also did follow-up surveys to help with the cleanup of debris.