Building Bridges

Al was the first person in his family to graduate from high school and, after an unsuccessful attempt at managing a retail meat market in Crockett and not wanting to work in either the sugar refinery or the lead smelter, signed on to help construct the first bridge over the Carquinez Strait, thus beginning his life long labor as a "Bridgeman." The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused severe damage to a portion of the Bay Bridge, led Caltrans, the state transportation agency, to conduct seismic safety studies of all its major bridges.