Corrosive salty water threatens 120 (SF) Bay Bridge anchor rods

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

About a quarter of the steel rods that anchor the tower of the new Bay Bridge to its foundation are in sleeves flooded with corrosive salty water — a critical threat that the head of Caltrans said Thursday must be addressed to avoid compromising the span’s integrity.

During an emergency teleconference, a three-member panel charged with overseeing the $6.4 billion project — composed of the heads of Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the state transportation commission — were told that 120 sleeves encasing high-strength rods designed to keep the tower from being damaged in a major earthquake continually flood with salty water.

The development is worrisome for Caltrans because salt is known to accelerate corrosion, which attacks metal over time and has been linked to numerous disasters, including the ruptured pipeline that spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil along the Santa Barbara coast last month.

... On Thursday, independent experts who reviewed newly released Caltrans photos of the damage to the latest rod said the threat of corrosion is not the only problem the agency needs to assess. They pointed to photos of the rod that appear to show that the nut — which is supposed to hold the rod against a steel plate at its bottom — may have been too weak to do its job.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Corrosive-salty-water-threatens-120-Bay-Bridge-6308061.php

[AZ Progressive]

1. This is the stuff that can make the state government a laughing stock

[Dems to Win]

2. I support Bernie's call to invest in America's infrastructure

But, especially when I read stories about the Bay Bridge, I seriously wonder if we are up to it. Can America build a bridge anymore? Can we build a high speed rail line? I truly don't know. I sure don't give an automatic YES we can.

[jakeXT]

9. Then forget cheap and outsourcing to China

Jim Merrill, formerly a top manager with MacTec Engineering and Consulting Inc., oversaw Bay Bridge quality control work in China from 2006 through 2008 and was a key source for the report. In 2008 he warned Caltrans officials that parts produced by Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. contained “hundreds of cracks,” prohibited by the contract and by welding codes.

The work took place on Changxing Island near Shanghai, where most of the steel for the suspension span tower and roadway was assembled.

The report said Merrill believes that bridge managers were more concerned about the schedule than safety.

Philip J. Stolarksi, a deputy chief for Caltrans’ Division of Engineering Services, agreed with Merrill. “For the Chinese, the weld standards were ‘suggestions,’ ” the report quoted Stolarski as saying.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/bay-bridge/article2589402.html

[Jesus Malverde]

11. I remember reading caltrans had 300 workers on site managing quality control.

Didn't work out so well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Wasn't there some stink over the use of steel made in China for this bridge?

I have always hated driving that bridge, and I know people who refuse to take it..they make a many mile detour to get from one side of the bay to the other.

[Psephos]

4. The steel in question was made in America.

But it's not the steel that's the problem, it's the shoddy construction. CalTrans' administration of the project, and its willingness to cut corners, is directly responsible. If you want to understand how utter the oversight failure is, read this SacBee article from two years ago, concerning the similar corrosion in the bridge's steel support tendons.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/bay-bridge/article2577571.html

[jakeXT]

10. Only parts are made from foreign steel

“The Bay Bridge: 100% foreign steel,” proclaim billboards along the freeways approaching the bridge (to be accurate, the suspension span of the bridge is only about 80 percent foreign steel according to the California Department of Transportation — CalTrans — and the entire eastern span, from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland, is about 20 percent foreign).

The Alliance for American Manufacturing, which sponsored the billboard campaign, says whatever the actual content, the decision to use Chinese steel was scandalous.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47631526

[CountAllVotes]

5. How soon these idiots forget

From the Loma Prieta earthquake that hit on October 7, 1989. What a fine mess it was and yes, there were deaths to go along with it.

Why these idiots ever decided to cut corners on the cost of this bridge is beyond me!

In the end, they will reap what they have sown!

[Throd]

7. They wanted a jivey design at the expense of function and cost.

[Jesus Malverde]

12. They paid a tens of million bonus for coming in on time...nt

[packman]

6. Once again - a reminder

the lowest bid wins the contract. Now, doesn't that make you feel safe every time you go over a bridge, thru a tunnel, or ride a train.

[jmowreader]

8. Uhh...

...someone did tell these knuckleheads the bridge in question was going IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING OCEAN, right?