SAN FRANCISCO: The new eastern expansion of the Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco is set to open Labor Day weekend, according to an oversight committee on Thursday, August 15.
The project will be replacing a section of the bridge that was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The new single-tower, self-anchored bridge will go from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland and cost $6.4 billion.
“The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is 10 years late, and $5 billion over budget,” said State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord). “The commuters are the ones who have paid for this project as it has skyrocketed over the budget, and they have been left vulnerable each day spent on the old span. They deserve the safest bridge possible,” he added.
Since the beginning, there have been several problems with the project and in March officials announced that nearly one-third of the 96 bolts used to hold a pair of seismic safety devices were broken. In July, the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee decided to delay the opening until December so the safety devices could be retrofitted, but changed their minds Thursday.
The panel unanimously approved the temporary fix after hearing from independent experts, including the California division chief of the Federal Highway Administration, and determined that motorists would be safer on the new bridge than the old bridge.
“There is risk to the public, there is risk to all of us, keeping people on the old bridge,” said Brian Maroney, California Department of Transportation principal engineer. “My advice to all decision-makers is get people on the new safe bridge.”
The temporary fix, which cost $250,000, is the installment of steel shims that will allow movement and absorb both vertical and horizontal forces in the event of a major earthquake.
“We see no reason to delay the opening of the bridge to traffic,” said Vince Mammano, California division chief of the Federal Highway Administration.
Andrew Gordon, spokesman for the Bay Bridge, said the steel shims will be in place until the bridge can be permanently retrofitted with steel saddles.
“They will be on the bridge until the permanent fix is done and we are anticipating the permanent fix to be in place by mid-December,” Gordon said.
Complete bridge closures will begin Wednesday, August 28, and last until the bridge opens at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, September 3.
During the closure, BART will offer 24-hour service that continues overnight, except for Monday. It will run every hour between the following 14 stations:
Embarcadero
Powell Street
24th St. Mission
Daly City
San Francisco International Airport
El Cerrito del Norte
Downtown Berkeley
MacArthur
12th Street/Oakland City Center
Coliseum/Oakland Airport
Bay Fair
Dublin/Pleasanton
Concord
Walnut Creek
By Melissa Simon
