Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge Closed Indefinitely

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Tough commute likely after Bay Bridge rod snaps

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been closed indefinitely after a rod installed during last month's emergency repairs snapped, causing a traffic nightmare for the 26,000 motorists who cross the landmark span every day.

Engineers on Wednesday will evaluate the damage caused when the rod and metal brace fell into the 73-year-old bridge's westbound lanes during Tuesday evening's rush hour.

At least two vehicles — a car and a small truck — either were struck by or ran into the fallen rod, said California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Van Eckhardt, but no injuries were reported.

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The rod that fell Tuesday was erected last month during an emergency repair job. It was holding in place a saddle-like cap that had been installed over a cracked link discovered over the Labor Day weekend.

When the rod apparently snapped at about 5:30 p.m., it brought down with it a steel patch roughly 3 feet long, authorities said.

"If you look at the totality of the circumstances — you've got the 5:30 commute, you have a 5,000-pound piece of steel falling out of the sky. We are so fortunate that no one was injured or killed," CHP Sgt. Trent Cross told KTVU-TV.

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The bridge was closed last month over the holiday weekend while long-planned earthquake safety upgrades were being made to the bridge. When the crack was discovered, state transportation officials initially feared it would prevent them from reopening the span in time for the start of the work week.

But the unexpected work only ended up taking a few extra hours.

California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, officials had nothing to say Tuesday about what might have caused the repair job to fail. The department issued a brief statement saying only that "structural engineers and inspectors are onsite to assess the damage and will make a determination as to how long repairs will take.

"At this time, the bridge is closed until further notice," the statement said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091028/ap_on_...dge_cable_snaps

Edited October 29, 2009 by Lone Ranger

[scandal 951]

That's ok.

They're building a new bridge.

It should be ready in a decade. Or two.

[William33 110]

A little maintenance in the last 75 years may have prevented this......Tax dollars being sent in the wrong direction, as usual...

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

That's ok.

They're building a new bridge.

It should be ready in a decade. Or two.

The section that replaces the damaged section will be in service in three to four years. They keep jacking the new sections in place as they are finished. That was what was happening when the repair was made over Labor Day Weekend.

[SuperDuper! 230]

We need to immediately charge $10 per crossing to raise money for bridge repair. We love new taxes!

[scandal 951]

That's ok.

They're building a new bridge.

It should be ready in a decade. Or two.

The section that replaces the damaged section will be in service in three to four years. They keep jacking the new sections in place as they are finished. That was what was happening when the repair was made over Labor Day Weekend.

I'd love to see Willie Brown come back to SF politics. Man I loved that guy.

Gavin Newsom is a pu$$y compared to Willie Brown.

Willie would have that bridge finished by Thanksgiving if he was running things.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

That's ok.

They're building a new bridge.

It should be ready in a decade. Or two.

The section that replaces the damaged section will be in service in three to four years. They keep jacking the new sections in place as they are finished. That was what was happening when the repair was made over Labor Day Weekend.

I'd love to see Willie Brown come back to SF politics. Man I loved that guy.

Gavin Newsom is a pu$$y compared to Willie Brown.

Willie would have that bridge finished by Thanksgiving if he was running things.

Willie is a class act. They still bring him on KRON regularly for local commentary. More important than being SF Mayor, he was Speaker of the Assembly. He could get difficult legislation through to the Governor no problem, or even past a veto.

[Kang Lang 7]

Willie is a tough b*stard but um he WAS mayor after Agnos and Jordan. That e-quake was 20 years ago they have all FAILED to get the bridge fixed. The commute for me has been better getting between offices with more people utilizing public transportation though.

[lucyrich 20]

I'd love to see Willie Brown come back to SF politics. Man I loved that guy.

Willie would have that bridge finished by Thanksgiving if he was running things.

Wait a minute... Though there's plenty of blame to go around, Willie Brown is one of those who worked hard to stall the replacement bridge. If he (and others like him) hadn't stalled it, it could have been finished almost a decade ago. And if he had gotten his way and not been shut out, it would have been delayed much longer than it actually was.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../ED7O1A4LES.DTL

It's crazy that a bridge which took three years to build initially using 1930s technology should take more than 20 years to rebuild using 21st century technology. Of course, the technology has little to do with it, but the political process moves a bit slower these days.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

The bridge might be up this afternoon....luckily I rely on the Ferry.

[Heracles 417]

Do people realize this is happening in a country that is apparently supposed to be a superpower?

Super at what is the question? Maybe at having 80 to 100 year old 2nd world grade infrastructure.

The state of or lack of infrastructure all over this country is bloody disgraceful. Even China is starting to beat us in this area.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Booyah!

[Heracles 417]

Look at the bridge they are building in Dubai. American engineers designed this might I add. Now look at our bridges.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Booyah!

[natty bumppo 297]

caltrans ... CA has money to fix things?

guess more IOU's will hit the streets .....

[Niels Bohr 72]

I am not a civil engineer. However, I know whoever did the emergency repairs forgot his ethical code: Uphold the safety of the Public.

He should have considered the worst case analysis whenever doing analytical jobs such as bridge building. Just like I do in semiconductors. I analyze the worst case delay in the parasitics of the semiconductors, so as not to overshoot anything. The semiconductor is actually faster than it is stated on the spec sheet. The reason is so to prevent the user from getting a loss in quality.

The engineer who analyze the structure have totally done his analysis wrong. That is why the bridge became broken. He didn't do a worst case analysis on it. If he cannot find a structure in time, limit the traffic flow by reducing lanes. Here in Boston, the older bridges like the Torbin Bridge (lower layer), traffic is reduced from 3 lanes to 2 lanes.

[Darnell 8,478]

was this repaired under the new 'work ready projects' federal funding thingie? That's gotta suck, if so.