Originally Posted by
RChung
"A few years ago" means 46 years ago, in 1977. From the bridge's opening in 1956 to 1977, the bridge had 3 lanes in each direction, top and bottom. The standard width for traffic lanes back then was narrower than now (for example, the Bay Bridge used to have six lanes on the top deck; now it has five). In 1977, the rightmost lane of the upper deck was taken out of service to be used for a cross-bay pipeline to supply Marin Co. with water. (BTW, all of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island is served by a single 9" water pipe across the western span of the Bay Bridge; when the eastern span of the BB was rebuilt, no secondary pipe was added from the Oakland side). In 1982, the pipeline was removed but the lane was converted into a wide maintenance and emergency lane, as was done on the bottom deck so the bridge was two lanes in each direction. That was the status until 2019, when the top deck lane was converted from a maintenance and emergency lane to a bike lane.
Water coming to YBI from SF originates in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir behind O'Shaughnessy Dam (John Muir is still turning over in his grave over that dam), while water coming from Oakland would come from Pardee Reservoir behind Pardee Dam. We can't be having inter-agency cooperation between Hetch Hetchy and East Bay MUD, now can we? I mean, Tuolumne River water mixed with Mokelumne River water? Who ever heard of such a thing?
