SF East Span Bay Bridge Mess

[urban addict 20324]

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?!?

So, SF had the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake that damaged the feeble East Span Bay Bridge and Caltrans wanted to retrofit the weak East Span. But then it turns out it cost a little more to build an entirely new East Span. The cost in the late 90's... $1.1 billion. While they were doing this, they wasted precious construction time, so years passed. The design of the bridge was supposed to be bland, but it was rejected as ugly and so did the 01-05 construction time. So an elegant single-tower, self-anchored suspension bridge (SAS) was chosen for the design, but legal issues and boondoogles pushed the construction start date to 2002 and completion date in 2007. By that time the bridge cost rose $1.5 billion to $2.6 billion and there were bridge toll hikes from $1 to $2. Building of the "Skyway" segment commenced at $1.04 billion which was then the largest Caltrans contract. A few months later, the cost jumped $0.3 billion to $2.9 billion because of inflation, but that didn't worry people.

The red Potain tower cranes, cranes and derrick barges came in to build the Skyway and W2 Pier in 2003; there was substantal progress made and continued on into 04.

However, no bids came in for the so-called $750 million SAS segment, delaying completion to 2009. In May 2004, a $1.4 billion bid came in and the only one caused alarms to go off as it was twice the cost. Now rising steel costs, inflation, and the 'highway robbery' of the SAS segment pushed the cost the $5.1 billion, an insane price. Another wave of toll hikes has pushed the toll to $3 partly due to this. The state rejected the $1.4 billion bid and recently chose to redesign the bridge as the common elevated causeway; plainer bridge for the Bay Area and it was the rejected 1997 'pig-ugly' design. Now this bridge, chosen from SAS design, cable-stayed, and causeway options has to be delayed for years as a report and design has to be done before construction commences. The states says it will save $0.5 billion, but I doubt it. The marine foundations for the SAS bridge are being built and now they change the design while it's under construction? (???) A recent cost estimate came in at $150 million less than the $1.4 billion bid for building the causeway, so I'm guessing delays will mean that we save little or no money (or spend more )! The Skyway segment will be completed in 2007 and construction may not start until 2009, which means we have a bridge (a.k.a. fishing pier!) from here to nowhere or if the Oakland landing has not yet been built, a bridge from nowhere to nowhere (don't drive on it)!!! The bridge completion date is 2011 or 2012 due to this mismanagement (there's a rumor of 2015).This is threating to the commuters who use the bridge as the risk of an major earthquake increases with evert second in the Bay Area that could cause the existing bridge to collapse!

More could be found here or here.

SO WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS LITERAL BS BRIDGE BUILDING?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[LeTaureau]

This sounds a lot like the nightmare Boston has endured with the Big Dig. 15 years later, its still not entirely complete, but almost there! (and billions upon billions over-budget).

[Benhamin]

I read about this in a civil engineering magazine randomly, and I sympathize with the people who had to put up with this crap. Knowing the Bog Dig I feel your pain. There are no excuses for the cost overruns here. Very unfortunate.

[urban addict 20324]

Blame Caltran's mismanagement on this monster project.

[PghUSA]

Hey if they are still accepting bids . . . who wants to write one with me? Somebody is making a killing on that thing. Where's the terminator when you need him?

[urban addict 20324]

I guess they're still arguing about this botched up project.

Sighhhh...............

[yochillout]

I think that that is one big mess. Just the mismanagement makes me puke. Well maybe that was an exageration but still.

[urban addict 20324]

So, Caltrans, we learn is a poor manager of major projects, but now its found its way into illegal activities. We just learned recently that Caltrains knew about the cost overruns a month before the first bid was placed, way back in 2001!!!! California law states that they have to speak up within 90 days of finding out that there is a cost overrun, but it was stupid enough to remain silent until 2003!!!! Now this illegal activity has gotten into this already messed up project!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!??!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!

[ElGobernador]

Just think of all the dollars wasted on ineptitude. I can only imagine how the rest of the country would talk if projects in southern states like Texas, Georgia, Alabama, or North Carolina spiraled out of control like this bridge and the Big Dig.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

LOl wtf are these ppl thinking its in San Fransisco there is no point of building that when the city is freakin sittin on a fault line real smart.

[Aessotariq]

LOl wtf are these ppl thinking its in San Fransisco there is no point of building that when the city is freakin sittin on a fault line real smart.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Umm.... what about the Golden Gate ?? It was designed with earthquakes in mind, and in its most recent retrofit has been strengthened even more.

Thousands (maybe tens/hundreds of thousands) use the existing San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge each day. It is old and is not able to withstand the severe effects of an earthquake. Engineering has advanced a lot with respect to building in earthquake zones (look at the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge near Kobe, Japan as a great example, and a beautiful bridge too). Retrofitting the bridge to make it more earthquake resistant wasn't worth it... It is also ugly. Despite that, it needs to be finished.. Too bad this project is not going as smoothly as intended.

[SoMAtic]

LOl wtf are these ppl thinking its in San Fransisco there is no point of building that when the city is freakin sittin on a fault line real smart.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

w o w . . .

yeah! what are those bay are people thinking, all 8 million of them. I mean, only 280,000 cars use it everyday. Hm. Im sure they can get by without it. Besides, just because these bridges are designed to withstand 9g- Magnitude earthquakes doesnt mean they wont randomly fall apart . . .

ur right. Your smarter than ALL of them.

[Showtime24]

stupid retards in florida you guys cant even vote and count the votes

[Benhamin]

LOl wtf are these ppl thinking its in San Fransisco there is no point of building that when the city is freakin sittin on a fault line real smart.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seriously, are you 10 or something? Go get an education before you make yourself look like a fool...

Off topic, showtime24, having lived in St. Petersburg, FL for 8 years, I can vouch that people there are retarded and the education system sucks... yet this had nothing to do with the 2000 election debacle. In fact, your post is almost as dumb as westcoast's.

[SoMAtic]

LOl wtf are these ppl thinking its in San Fransisco there is no point of building that when the city is freakin sittin on a fault line real smart.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isnt Florida the state thats been hit by like, 5 hurricanes in the last 3 years? havent 300,000 homes been lost? wait -wait... i hear that buildings can be built to withstand earthquakes, but not hurricanes........ interesting...

anyway back on subject, it looks like caltrans is going to stick with it's original suspension tower plan adn that the bay area will pay for most of it

[Zissou]

At least it will look nice, right? I think they did a special on this project on the Discovery Channel. I dont remember them mentioning the budget problems though.

[Showtime24]

hahaha look at this retards profile

Tampa Bay the better Bay Area!

"Tampa Bay the Gayest Bay Area in the whole world you guys barely have a downtown"