Longest self-anchored suspension span bridge

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland features a 624-m-long (2,047-ft) self-anchored suspension bridge with a clear main span of 385 m (1,263 ft) supported from a single 160-m-tall (525-ft) steel tower. The bridge was inaugurated on 2 September 2013.

The 4.473-km (2.78-mile) East Span between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland replaced the original cantilever bridge after a section collapsed during the Loma Prieta earthquake on 17 October 1989. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge consists of two major crossings connecting each shore with Yerba Buena Island and has a total length, including the Yerba Buena Island section, of 9.725 km (6.04 miles).

Most large suspension bridges require large anchorages for the main cables at each end of the bridge. For shorter spans, or where the location is unsuitable for major anchorages, the cables may instead be attached to the ends of the bridge deck, so that the tension in the main cables is resisted by compression in the bridge deck – a ‘self-anchored’ suspension bridge.