On September 12, Donald MacDonald, the world-renowned architect who provided design services for the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, will lead SFMHS members on an exclusive tour of the construction.

MacDonald, owner and principal of MacDonald Architects of San Francisco and an internationally respected expert on bridges, will take to the water to give members a look at the span and explain construction work currently under way.

MacDonald worked with the acclaimed New York bridge engineering firm of Weidlinger Associates to create the self-anchoring suspension bridge with its elegant soaring single tower that was ultimately chosen to replace the seismically unsafe eastern span. This is the first bridge of its kind to be built with a single tower and, when completed in 2013, will become the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge.

Recently, MacDonald took about 70 members of the American Institute of Architecture on a similar trip and the consensus was that the new east span is a beautiful landmark. The group was impressed with the design of the single-tower suspension span. "Beautiful," "sleek" and "elegant" were words they used to describe the $6.3 billion span.

The tour will cost $75 per person and will depart at 1:30 P.M. from Gate E, Pier 1, just south of the Ferry Building near Sinbad’s Restaurant. Please plan to check in no later than 1:15 P.M.