Bay Bridge Redesign: Catwalk Lights Reveal Progress (PHOTOS)

Commuters were treated to a sneak preview of the future Bay Bridge Monday night when construction lights illuminated the catwalks along the bridge's new self-anchored suspension span for the first time.

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The florescent lights revealed what the bridge will look like after the redesigned Bay Bridge opens in 2013. Crews will begin placing the structure's main cable, which SFGate deemed the "most complicated and expensive part" of the $6.3 billion project, early next year.

The bridge's eastern span will be completely rebuilt as a suspension bridge, with a 525-foot tower supported by a single steel-wire cable. "We wanted something strong and secure, but we also wanted something iconic," Bart Ney, a Caltrans spokesman, told the New York Times in June.

Take a look at images of the bridge illumination, along with a birds-eye view of the catwalks, below:

(All images courtesy of Caltrans.)