Emergency Repair Updates

Bay Bridge Open

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Bay Bridge reopened to traffic in both directions at 9 a.m. this morning. The bridge had been closed since about 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27.

BART Ridership Breaking Records

Friday, October 30, 12 noon ...

With commuters flocking to public transit in the wake of an emergency Bay Bridge closure that is now in its fourth day, BART is setting ridership records. Transbay ridership on BART this morning was up 60 percent as compared with a normal Friday morning. Typically between the start of service and 10 a.m., BART would carry about 50,000 passengers between the East Bay and San Francisco. This morning, transbay ridership increased by 29,000 riders for a total of approximately 79,000 transbay riders.

Additionally, Friday morning's overall ridership was up 27 percent. That translates into 28,000 more passengers using BART. Typically, during a Friday morning commute, BART would carry about 101,000 passengers systemwide. Today systemwide ridership totaled 129,000 riders.

Meanwhile, for the second time in as many days, BART customers set a new, single-day ridership record on Thursday. A total of 442,000 customers rode BART on Thursday, beating the previous day's record high of 437,000 riders. Transbay ridership was 95,000, or 57 percent higher than on an average Thursday.

BART continues to provide longer trains and extra service. See 511.org for details.

Tie Rods Installed, Work Continues

Friday, October 30, 10 a.m. ... Although Bay Area workers had to endure another morning commute without the use of the region's busiest bridge, work on repairing the cracked eyebar beam on the East Span of the Bay Bridge progressed considerably overnight. The four high-strength steel tie rods that form the heart of the repair job have been replaced. "All the rods are up, we're just doing the final fit," Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney told the media early this morning. "What's left to do is tensioning and testing of the rods, and putting in the enhancements and the strapping in place so the rods don't vibrate. ...The rods are up, so the heavy lifting is done." The tensioning process takes the load off the cracked eyebar. As of 6:30 a.m. or so, Ney told CBS5 that Caltrans and its contractors still had several hours of work in front of them before they could get to the point of inspections by third parties. The Federal Highway Administration and independent engineers will be reviewing the work.

Thursday, October 29, 6:30 p.m. ... While the major portion of the work to repair the East Span of the Bay Bridge could be done by tomorrow morning, state officials still cannot predict when the Bay Bridge will reopen, according to Dale Bonner, secretary of the State Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, which oversees Caltrans. The featured speaker at a press conference late this afternoon in Oakland, Bonner estimated that the installation of four new tie rods and additional features to minimize vibrations in the repair apparatus could be done by 10 a.m. on Friday, October 30. But several more hours of work will be necessary beyond that milestone to apply tension to the rods, test the system and observe how it performs in wind. The Federal Highway Administration will review the repairs. "We're going to give the experts as much time as they need" to inspect the repairs, Bonner said.

The repairs are designed to counteract a significant crack in a crucial eyebar member on the East Span. The problem was first detected and addressed during a Labor Day weekend construction operation to install the last piece of a traffic bypass for the East Span. The fix held up for seven weeks before a key component broke on Tuesday.

The fact that the eyebar crack has not widened since Labor Day weekend is evidence that Caltrans' approach to relieving stress on the eyebar is sound, Bonner said, adding that Caltrans is installing a number of enhancements this time to make sure the system stays in place.

Thursday, October 29, 8 a.m. ... Crews worked through the night to finish the welding, grinding and steel plate placement on the cracked eyebar reinforcement system. This morning, they are preparing to lift and secure four new steel tie rods into the saddle assembly. A new self-centering plate and nut system is being used to ensure that the rods stay centered in the now-widened beam holes. Once installed, the rods will be tensioned and tested, and strapped to the eyebar to lessen vibrations. Caltrans officials have not yet announced an opening time for the Bay Bridge, and are urging motorists to plan an alternate route for the evening commute.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7 p.m. … Crews will be working throughout the night to prep the site and materials for the reinstallation of the tie rods reinforcing the cracked eyebar member in the Bay Bridge East Span. "We're hoping to make a lot of progress tonight," Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said during a late-afternoon/early evening press conference and site tour for the media. In the meantime, the Bay Bridge remains closed in both directions, and with several more steps to the repair process ahead, officials are not yet predicting an opening time.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 2 p.m. … The high-strength steel rod that snapped on the East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Tuesday afternoon suffered from “fatigue failure” exacerbated by yesterday’s high winds, Caltrans Chief Engineer Rick Land reported this morning at the monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

• Audio excerpt from October 28, 2009, Commission meeting: Bay Bridge repair

While repairs are under way, work is being hampered by strong winds; at this point it is unclear when the bridge will reopen, and MTC is continuing to work with Bay Area transit operators to beef up bus, rail and ferry service, and get the word out to commuters via MTC’s 511.org Web site and free 511 phone service. “One of the fortunate things is that contingency plans for theLabor Day bridge closure were fresh in our minds, and we were able to roll that out in fairly short order,” MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger said at the meeting.

Caltrans is working with contractors to reinforce the failed tie-rod repair assembly initially installed seven weeks ago to compensate for a cracked eyebar member in the latticework holding up the old East Span, which was built in the 1930s and is destined to be replaced by a new bridge now being constructed under the auspices of Caltrans, MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority and the California Transportation Commission. The eyebar crack was discovered over Labor Day weekend and was repaired on the spot, but now the repair requires reinforcement.

Land said one of the four recently installed steel tie rods designed to relieve pressure on the eyebar crack broke due to a fatigue failure developing over a period of time as wind caused it to rub against surrounding metal in a cross beam. When the tie rod snapped, it pulled down one of the steel saddles clamping it to the eyebar along with an adjacent tie rod. Parts tumbled onto the upper deck of the bridge during the evening commute, but fortunately, no one was hurt in the event.

“This vibration from wind was something our engineers were concerned about. We had been looking at ways of counteracting it” during weekly inspections since the Labor Day weekend, Land said, adding that “yesterday a lot of high wind accelerated the fatigue process,” causing the tie rod to snap.

As part of the new fix to the earlier fix, Caltrans is replacing all four tie rods and widening the holes in the cross beam that the rods have to fit through, while ensuring that the rods will stay centered in the beam holes and welding the beams more tightly to the steel saddles that hold everything in place. In addition, the tie rods will be banded together to minimize movement and vibration, and to prevent anything from dropping to the deck.

“We’re taking every precaution we can to ensure than when the bridge opens back up, this will perform as intended,” Land said.

Caltrans District 4 Director Bijan Sartipi, who also serves as an MTC commissioner, said the overall approach to fixing the eyebar crack was and is a sound one. “We’re fixing an element of the (earlier) fix,” said Sartipi. “The fix itself is appropriate.” Caltrans is having the work reviewed by an independent seismic advisory board. “We have some of the best people not just in the state, but in the world, working on this,” Sartipi said.

MTC Chair Scott Haggerty said this week’s events highlight the need for a proposed toll hiketo finish the job of seismically retrofitting the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges, and completing construction on a new East Span to replace the 73-year-old existing East Span. “The bottom line is, when we’re talking about toll increases, it’s because we’re trying to build a facility that will be safe, that will stand up to any seismic event,” he said. —Brenda Kahn

OAKLAND, CA, Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 10 p.m. … The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been closed in both directions on an emergency basis in the wake of new problems with a weakened portion of the East Span. The closure was initiated when a fix installed over Labor Day weekend to a cracked eyebar piece failed during the evening commute today. Motorists are advised to expect delays, use alternate routes and plan ahead. MTC and Caltrans are working with Bay Area transit agencies to beef up bus, rail and ferry service.