Crack may delay Bay Bridge reopening

September 07, 2009|Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - Crews working on a seismic retrofit of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge have found what authorities called a “significant crack’’ in the eastern span that could keep the California landmark closed beyond a planned holiday weekend shutdown.

During an inspection Saturday, workers discovered a problem with a steel link that helps hold up the bridge’s eastern portion, senior bridge engineer Ken Brown said. Part of a network of eight similar pieces, the link is about 2 inches thick and was cracked halfway through.

“The crack is significant enough to have closed the bridge on its own,’’ said Bart Ney, state transportation spokesman. “We have to make this repair before we reopen the bridge.’’

Ney added that “it’s very possible that this could prevent us from opening Tuesday morning,’’ when the workweek resumes and the bridge had been set to reopen.

The 73-year-old bridge connecting Oakland and other East Bay cities with San Francisco was shut down Thursday night so a section of the eastern span could be cut out and replaced with a new double-deck section that will connect the bridge with a short detour. About 260,000 cars and trucks cross the bridge every weekday.

It was closed to traffic at 8 p.m. Thursday and had been scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. tomorrow.

READER COMMENTS »

View reader comments » Comment on this story »