Bay Bridge Opening Delayed
The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge won’t be ready to open on Labor Day –
At a closed door session on Monday, July 8 in Sacramento, the directors of agencies* in charge of the bridge construction project informed legislators of the delay. Retrofitting the cracked bolts will put off the opening beyond mid-December. No new date for the opening has been set because the relocation of traffic from the current span to the new span requires closing the bridge for four days.
The Mercury News reports, “To take the loads originally intended for the steel rods, the bridge contractor, American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises, and Mare Island-based XKT Engineering, are fabricating and installing on each shear key a steel saddle and hanging across it super strong cables. …..The team blames the delay on the need to repair two key seismic stabilizers on the large pier east of the main span tower where 32 out of 96 anchor rods snapped after contractors tightened them down in March. Those won’t be done until Dec. 10.”
* The Toll Bridge Oversight Committee is composed of the executive directors of Caltrans, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and California Transportation Commission.
