They feared a bridge could collapse due to an attack or an earthquake and trap the ships stationed at Naval Base San Diego.

[4] In 1935, an officer at the naval air station at North Island argued that if a bridge were built to cross the bay then the Navy would leave San Diego.

[4][8] By 1964 the Navy supported a bridge if there was at least 200 feet (61 m) of clearance for ships which operate out of the nearby Naval Base San Diego to pass underneath it.

Mosher's job was to build a bridge that would provide transportation, allow ships access to the bay, and serve as an iconic landmark for San Diego.

Mosher decided to make an orthotropic roadway, which used a stiffening technique that was new to the United States; it increased the strength and resistance of the bridge.

To add the concrete girders, 900,000 cubic yards of fill were dredged, and the caissons for the towers were drilled and blasted 100 feet into the bed of the bay.

The speed limit was then decreased to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) in October 2005 along Third and Fourth streets, after traffic increased by 20 percent following the removal of the tolls.

On December 7, 1981, Coronado resident Hal Willis was westbound when a drunk driver traveling eastbound at high speeds drove through the cones, hit him head-on, and caused his death.

The bridge was designed entirely and exclusively for motor vehicle traffic; there are no pedestrian walkways, bike paths, or shoulders ("breakdown lanes").

Hueso stated, "The safety of residents and visitors traveling on the bridge, and those who gather below it in Chicano Park, is of the utmost importance.

[30] In April 1997, the Port of San Diego released an international call for artists seeking qualifications of artist-led teams interested in developing environmentally-friendly lighting concept proposals for the bridge.

[32] The winning concept envisages illuminating the bridge with programmable LED lighting in an energy-neutral manner using electricity generated by wind turbines.

[35][36][37] A decades-old local urban legend claims the center span of the bridge was engineered to float in the event of collapse, allowing Naval ships to push the debris and clear the bay.

The myth may have developed due to the hollow box design of the 1,880-foot center span, combined with the low-profile barges that made it appear to float on its own during construction.