Work on the new span of the Bay Bridge has passed its last major milestone following the successful transfer of the roadway’s weight to the tower of the new $6.3 billion span set to open Labor Day.

“We can smell the finish line,” Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger said Tuesday at a news conference.

The transfer was a three-month process in which workers lifted 35,200-ton bridge decks from the temporary steel trestles where they were assembled onto the tower and main suspension cable that cradle and support the self-anchored suspension span, a 2,047-foot section of bridge east of Yerba Buena Island, Heminger said.

The weight of the bridge is now supported by a single, 1-mile-long cable that acts like a sling.

He described the remaining tasks to be completed before the new span opens next year as “meat and potatoes work” such as roadwork, striping of lanes and mechanical and electrical work.