instead a flexible structure, with resonant motion absorbed by the plastic shear of sacrificial, replaceable components. Smaller earthquakes will impose mostly elastic stresses on components, with a higher proportion of plastic (and thus energy absorbing) stresses in larger earthquakes. This design philosophy extends to other metal components of the bridge, including the sacrificial tubular end keys that align the self-anchored suspension with its approach structures at each end. The tower consists of four columns. Each roughly pentagonal column consists of four tapering and/or straight sections, joined end-to-end by external plates and internal stringer finger joints secured with fasteners. The columns are also joined horizontally by sacrificial box structures. These box joins are intended to absorb earthquake-induced motion by elastic and plastic shear deformation as the tower sways. Under a severe earthquake, this deformation absorbs energy that could otherwise lead to destructive tower motion, thus protecting the primary structure of the span. It is expected that this design will allow the immediate use of the bridge for emergency vehicles, with the joins being replaced as needed to restore the bridge to its original condition. Uniquely, the tower has no direct contact with the suspended side-by-side roadways separated in the middle by fifty feet, with enough space between the tower and the roadways to allow swaying under severe earthquakes without collision. Tower construction The process to build the SAS tower atop its foundation consisted of five phases. The first four phases each consisted of lifting segments of four similar columns and bolting them into place and to elements connecting them, while the last phase was to lift the final top cap that will carry the crowning main cable saddle. On July 28, 2010, the first of four below-deck main tower pillars was erected, having arrived earlier in the month by barge from China. They were placed by lifting one end from a barge into a temporary scaffold, with a carriage on the barge to allow the lower end to move into place. After the columns were bolted into place, the scaffolding was then extended upward to allow the next set of above deck columns to be erected, lifted, and translated into position, a process repeated for each of the remaining phases. Tower erection continued when the second set of columns finally arrived in the week of October 24, 2010, almost three months after the first set were placed. The second set of