Bay Bridge shut down: UC Berkeley Professor calls for investigation

On KALW news today, UC Berkeley Professor of Structural Engineering,  Abolhassan Astaneh-Asi, sounded the alarm.  You can hear him here:

http://www.crosscurrentsradio.org/features.php?feature_id=15

The Bay Bridge is still shut down for repairs after 20 to 30 mile-per-hour winds caused a steel tie rod to snap yesterday evening, dropping a 3-foot-wide steel crossbeam and an additional steel rod onto the upper deck. While Caltrans and contracting company MCM worked against the wind throughout last night and today on the repair, the question of why this happened still seems unanswered.

As it turns out, the parts that crashed onto the bridge the evening of October 27th just happen to be the most recently added parts of the bridge, installed just seven weeks earlier over Labor Day weekend. The bridge was closed that weekend so contractor CC Meyers could connect a new part of the bridge to the old one - all part of seismically upgrading the bridge’s Eastern Span. And when a crack was found in the structure, they almost didn’t have the bridge ready for the morning commute after the holiday. But crews worked through the night, and got it done. Caltrans claims that the Labor Day repair was tested thoroughly upon installation, and it was examined on a weekly basis. But that fix was what broke due to gusty winds about 24 hours ago.

Today, a Caltrans spokesman said that they’re trying to deal with the wind issues by placing straps on the repaired steel tie in order to prevent high winds from rocking it back and forth until it breaks - again - a band aid for the band aid, so to speak. And that’s just plain unsafe, according to structural engineering professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl from UC Berkeley. He’s been studying the Bay Bridge since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. And KALW's Ben Trefny reached him in his office on the Berkeley campus.

The Public Press and McSweeney’s in San Francisco have embarked on a non-profit effort to work on an investigative piece regarding delays, cost overruns, and potential dangers with the Bay Bridge retrofit. The groups are looking to raise public funds for the article, which is scheduled for publication November 13th. You can learn more right here