Truss support-bearing shoe at Pier E-9 of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge. This bearing shoe was located at the northeast corner of Pier E-9. An identical bearing shoe was located in the southeast corner. Together, these bearings provided support for the 88-m truss at Pier E-9. Each bearing shoe was attached to Pier E-9 with 20 2.54 cm diameter bolts. During the earthquake, all of the bolts in both bearing shoes failed. This allowed movement of the previously attached 88-m truss. As evidenced by the exposed paint, the bearing shoe came to rest about 14 cm to the north and 1.58 cm to the east of its original position.

Image Credit: E.V. Leyendecker. U.S. Geological Survey