The first Carquinez Strait Bridge was completed in 1927, owned and operated by the private American Toll Bridge Company. U.C. Berkeley Dean of Engineering Charles Derleth, Jr. was Chief Engineer; D.B. Steinman was Designing Engineer. The State of California took over the bridge in 1940.

The second Carquinez Strait Bridge was completed in 1958, designed by the California Division of Highways. It is similar in layout to the first bridge, but incorporated many advancements including the use of welded high-strength steel.

Initial studies by Caltrans indicated that a three-tower cable stayed bridge was suitable for the site. JMI was engaged by Caltrans in 1992 to develop a preliminary design and cost estimate.

JMI's concept is illustrated here in a Caltrans-prepared rendering. It has two 1175 ft (358 m) main spans, and two 500 ft (152 m) side spans, with A-frame concrete towers and concrete box girder deck.

In an unsolicited structural concept study delivered to Caltrans in early 1996, OPAC Consulting Engineers suggested that a three-span suspension bridge may also be well suited to the site, and could have some advantages over the cable stayed options. OPAC's report included a suspension bridge design concept and a rough cost estimate.

OPAC's concept is illustrated here in a Caltrans-prepared rendering. It has a 2350 ft (716 m) main span, and 500 ft (152 m) side spans, with batter-leg concrete frame towers and a steel box girder deck.

The arch alternative had a structural span arrangement a lot like the existing bridges, with two main spans of about 1,100 feet, supported by a central pier. The arch configuration is called "basket handle" because the curved arch ribs lean together as they extend above the roadway deck. This provides a very light and efficient structure.

The truss concept was architecturally similar to the 1958 bridge. It had two main spans of about 1175 ft (358 m) supported by a central pier, and 500 ft (152 m) side spans. The piers were concrete portal frames.

The final cable-stayed option had three diamond-shaped concrete towers and a concrete box girder deck. Stay cables would radiate outward and downward from the tops of the towers to support the deck.

The final suspension bridge option had two batter-leg concrete frame towers and an orthotropic steel box girder deck. Classic draped cables and vertical suspender ropes would support the slender aerodynamically streamlined deck.

The suspension bridge design has a main span of 728m to provide the required navigation clearance in the north and south channels. The south side span is relatively short (147m) to allow the south transition pier to clear the railroad tracks. The north side span is longer (181m) to clear a slide zone and fault in the cliff.

The towers are supported on 3m diameter shaft piles. Steel casings were driven through overburden and into the top of the rock. Then an uncased rock socket was drilled below the casing. The rock socket and casing were then reinforced and concreted. Each tower is supported by twelve such shafts, with a maximum length of about 90m.

Reinforced concrete pile caps with precast concrete shells transfer vertical and lateral loads between piles and tower, and provide platforms for construction of the tower shafts. Each of the four pile caps is about 22m x 18m in plan, and 6m thick. Heavy reinforcement is required for long-term durability and for seismic resistance.

The towers are reinforced concrete portal frames with cellular shafts. The slightly inclined shafts allow clearance for the width of the continuous steel deck girder, yet allow the main cables to hang straight to support the edge of the deck. The tied walls and hoop-reinforced corner pilasters were specially developed to meet stringent seismic criteria.

The south transition pier supports the end of the steel deck girder, houses tie-downs that divert the geometry of the cables to the south anchorage, and supports the end of the south viaduct. It is structurally and architecturally similar to the main towers, with cellular reinforced concrete shafts and pile foundations.

The south cable anchorage transfers the thrust of the cables to the ground via massive concrete anchor blocks and a combination of batter piles and vertical piles. The splay chambers rise 18m above ground, while the anchor blocks extend about 10m beneath the ground surface.

The north cable anchorage transfers the thrust of the cables to the ground by direct bearing on the underlying rock, and also serves as a bridge abutment. The concrete anchor blocks and splay chambers are benched into the rock beneath the roadway; only the relatively small saddle housings are exposed.

The cables carry all loads from the deck to the towers and the ground. It was spun and compacted in the air from individual wires, using a computer-controlled spinning method that is an evolutionary enhancement of the method used on the Bay and Golden Gate bridges.

Steel castings transfer loads to the cables from the vertical suspender ropes, and transfer loads from the cables to the tops of the towers. Splay castings confine the cables in the anchorages.

The suspended superstructure consists of a 1056m long closed steel box girder, continuous from the north anchorage to the transition pier at the south, supported along its edges by suspender ropes. The box girder is 3 m deep and 29 m wide. The edge plate and side plates are shaped to provide an aerodynamically stable cross section. The orthotropic deck of the girder consists of a 16 mm deck plate with 305 mm deep trapezoidal closed ribs fabricated from 8 mm thick plates.

After the girder was completed, the structure was essentially complete. There were still, however, many construction tasks remaining. These included but were not limited to wrapping and painting the main cables, installing the deck railings and pavement, and making a driveable highway and functional footpath.

The bridge was designed for two levels of wind storm: a “Strength Event” with 100 year recurrence and 1-hour averaged velocity of 47m/s (105 mph), in which the bridge is not overstressed, and a “Stability Event” with 10,000 year recurrence and 10-min averaged velocity of 70m/s (157 mph), in which the bridge is to remain stable (no flutter or galloping). Wind engineering included tests of section and full-bridge models.

Seismic design of the bridge conforms with the latest knowledge of seismicity and structural performance. The site is influenced by the San Andreas, Hayward, and Franklin Faults. Controlling ground motions are from the Franklin Fault.

Two levels of earthquake were considered: a Functional Evaluation Event, with a 300 year return period in which no damage & no permanent offset is allowed, and a Safety Evaluation Event, with a 1000 to 2000 year return period in which only repairable damage with no traffic impact is allowed.

Seismic performance of the bridge was validated by comprehensive inelastic computer modeling under propagating incoherent wave fields from a suite of earthquakes, and verifying that stringent limits on strains in concrete, rebar and structural steel were not exceeded.