Bay Bridge news and updates

Monday, September 7, 2009, 22:14
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Bay Bridge opening has been postponed due to found of crack, The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Tuesday morning after slow-going repairs to a cracked support forced the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to remain closed an extra day. The bridge has been shut to traffic since Thursday night as part of a project to retrofit its eastern section, a portion of which collapsed during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The bridge had been scheduled to open at 5 AM Tuesday morning,but the Bay Bridge will reopen to traffic on Wednesday at 5 AM.

Crack Found in Bay Bridge Postpones Its Reopening

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge stood empty Friday as retrofitting work began. Its reopening had been set for Tuesday.

REPRINTS

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: September 7, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area were bracing for an arduous commute on Tuesday morning after slow-going repairs to a cracked support forced the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to remain closed an extra day.

The bridge has been shut to traffic since Thursday night as part of a project to retrofit its eastern section, a portion of which collapsed during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

That work, which involved replacing a 300-foot span with a detour, was finished on schedule. But during a routine inspection on Saturday, workers discovered an unrelated crack in a circular link, known as an eyebar, also on the eastern span. Workers toiled all day Monday to make repairs, but more time was needed, said Randy Iwasaki, the director of the California Department of Transportation.

“We’re going to need your patience for one more day,” he said. The new target for the reopening of the bridge, which connects San Francisco and the western peninsula to Oakland and suburban communities to the east, is Wednesday at 5 a.m., a full 24 hours later than expected.

Other local transit agencies had already made contingency plans in the event that the bridge did not reopen on time.

Ferry companies added boats, in some cases tripling the number of trips across the bay. The Bay Area Rapid Transit, the region’s major commuter railway, planned to run longer trains on Tuesday. The Transportation Department advised people to consider carpools and even telecommuting. The Bay Bridge handles about 260,000 vehicles a day.

Engineers said the damaged eyebar had probably cracked in the last two years, since the bridge’s last inspection. And while the repairs were taking time, Mr. Iwasaki said the work was worth it.

“When you return to this bridge,” he said, “it’s going to be safer than when you left it.”

Bay Bridge won’t reopen for Tuesday morning rush

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AP – In a photo provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, workers raise an eyebar saddle as …

Play VideoVideo:Calif. bridge may not be ready for Tues.commute AP

By SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press Writer – Mon Sep 7, 10:08 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will not reopen in time for the Tuesday morning commute, leaving thousands of drivers to find alternate ways to get into the city and setting the stage for possible gridlock on other bridges and roads.

Crews won’t be able to fix the crack that was discovered in the span Saturday in time for the bridge’s scheduled reopening at 5 a.m. Tuesday, said Randy Iwasaki, director of the California Department of Transportation.

Iwasaki said crews are aiming to complete the work by 5 a.m. Wednesday.

“We are going to need your patience for one more day until essential repairs are completed,” he said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The 73-year-old bridge, which carries about 260,000 vehicles a day between San Francisco and heavily populated cities to its east, was closed over the Labor Day weekend so a football-field-sized, 3,300-ton section of the eastern span could be cut out and replaced with a new double-deck section. The work was part of a seismic upgrade and had to be completed 150 feet above the ground.

The new section connects the bridge with a short detour that will be used until a new east span is completed by 2013.

Crews used the opportunity to inspect the bridge and found a 2-inch-thick steel link cracked halfway through.

Tuesday’s closure was bad news for commuters.

“(The roads are) going to be packed,” Marty Newman, a psychotherapist who commutes to San Francisco from his home in Oakland, told KGO-TV in San Francisco.

Newman said he does not know how he will get to work Tuesday.

Other transit agencies in the San Francisco Bay area have made preparations for the bridge’s closure, but officials are still urging people to be flexible with their commuting hours and take extra time to get to their destination.

“If you’re commuting and normally it takes you about half hour, give yourself at least an hour,” said Sgt. Trent Cross, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s Golden Gate division.

Cross said the CHP plans to increase staffing around other bridges that are likely to see more traffic.

The bridge was shut down Thursday night, and other bridges and public transportation systems were able to accommodate extra riders Friday, the first time since a major earthquake in 1989 that the bridge was closed on a working day.

But since that was the beginning of a long holiday weekend, Tuesday’s morning rush hour could prove more difficult.

Public transit agencies said they plan to increase capacity to handle the expected increase in riders because of the bridge’s closure.

Bay Area Rapid Transit spokesman Jim Allison said the commuter rail line will run longer trains, but Allison warned that finding parking at stations may be difficult.

The transit line typically carries about 340,000 commuters a day. It set a record with a little more than 405,000 riders on Sept. 8, 2008, Allison said.

Although the rail line can carry more people, Allison said commuters have to be spread out over the day.

“Most people travel to work between 8 and 9 o’clock. If you can avoid that hour, that’s a good idea,” he said.

The Golden Gate Transportation District said the Golden Gate Ferry will add one vessel with a capacity of 715 passengers leaving Larkspur for San Francisco at 7:30 a.m.

Bay Bridge Update: Bridge Will Not Reopen Tuesday

Authorities have given commuters a Bay Bridge update, and it is not good news. They announced that as a result of the crack found while replacing a section of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge during seismic retrofittins, the bridge will not reopen on Tuesday as had been expected.

The bridge had been scheduled to open at 5 AM Tuesday morning, but the Bay Bridge update indicated that they will not be able to complete emergency repairs in time to open the bridge as scheduled. Inspectors discovered the problem Saturday afternoon, a cracked steel link known as an eyebar, which caused officials to work round-the-clock in an attempt to complete repairs in time for the post Labor Day commute.

While authorities said the cracked eyebar had not been a danger to commuters, as the remaining 7 supports could handle the stress adequately, they also said that even without the necessity to close the bridge for the seismic retrofit, the crack, by itself, would have forced a bridge closure.

The damaged link, part of a network of eight similar pieces, is about 2 inches thick and was cracked halfway through. Crews are wrapping a custom-made steel saddle, which acts like a brace around a person’s knee, around the link to redistribute stress away from the area. That will be attached to another saddle, set lower down the Bay Bridge span with steel tie rods.

With the Bay Bridge update given, public transit agencies have announced contingency plans. BART as well as ferry providers will increase service for Tuesday. BART is will run trains with additional cars, and ferries will be added to routes from Alameda/Harbor Bay, Alameda/Oakland, Larkspur and Vallejo.

Commuters forced to use cars will have to drive across the Richmond-San Rafael and Golden Gate bridges or the San Mateo Bridge to get to work.

The Bay Bridge will reopen to traffic on Wednesday at 5 AM.

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