Bay Bridge Closed, Commuters Spurn Cars

Traffic Lighter as People Take Public Transportation or Work from Home; No Firm Estimate on When Damaged Bridge Will Reopen

(CBS/AP)  Engineers desperately tried to repair and fortify the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Thursday after a 5,000-pound piece of steel plummeted onto the span during rush hour this week.

Transportation officials still have no firm estimate of when the bridge will reopen, but said the crossing would likely remain closed for the evening commute.

Commuters faced a second day without one of the region's most important traffic arteries, but officials reported that traffic was much lighter than Wednesday as people chose to take public transportation or work from home.

"Caltrans is doing everything it can to return the bridge back to a safe state," Bart Ney, a spokesman for the state transportation department said at a news conference Thursday morning. Three cars were damaged and one motorist had minor injuries when the chunk of metal fell onto westbound lanes during Tuesday evening's rush-hour commute.

The pieces that failed were parts of major repairs done last month after state inspectors discovered a crack in an "eyebar," an important structural beam. The rods that broke were holding a saddle-like cap that had been installed to strengthen the cracked eyebar.

Ney said Thursday the crack in the eyebar has not gotten any bigger as a result of Tuesday's failure. Engineers thought they had fixed the problem over Labor Day weekend, but the repairs did not hold.

Officials say strong winds likely played a role in the bridge failure, heightening concerns by some experts about the integrity of the repair and the bridge's safety in an earthquake. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake caused a 50-foot section of the bridge's upper deck to collapse onto the deck below.

Scientists in 2008 said there is a 63 percent probability of a quake similar to the 1989 temblor in the Bay area over the next 30 years.

Asked if the bridge will be safe when it reopens, Ney said, "We have some of the best design engineers working on the bridge. It should be safe when we reopen it," according to CBS station KPIX.

Engineers believe the rods snapped after vibrating against the edge of a flat metal plate that was used to bolt stress rods to the structure, said Ed Puchi, a spokesman for MCM Construction, Inc., the firm conducting the repairs.

Puchi said the flat bolts are now being replaced with rounded ones, which are less likely to shift when high winds cause the rods to vibrate. Also, Puchi said crews are installing straps on the rods to help dampen vibrations.

"If the rod fails again, the straps would prevent it from falling," Puchi said.

On the bridge, repair crews used cranes to thread the new rods into place. Workers hoisted 100 feet over the roadway also worked on fortifying the new saddle.

The bridge closure made for a rough commute Wednesday, with heavy traffic and crowded trains. Other bridges that provide access to San Francisco were especially congested, as some of the estimated 280,000 commuters who use the Bay Bridge each day looked for alternate routes. Traffic conditions were lighter on Thursday.

The main contractor on the repairs that failed, C.C. Meyers, Inc., stood by the work, but deferred to Caltrans to determine why the pieces failed, spokeswoman Beth Ruyak said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Administration sent engineers on Wednesday to help Caltrans investigate. The federal agency said it had not inspected the Labor Day weekend repairs made to the heavily used span, instead relying on state inspection reports to ensure safety guidelines were met.

[barbaram99]

This is appalling. Yer right the roadway systems are falling apart as are other areas that one poster broght up. He must be a bus rider. Good as I feel mass transit is the answer nation wide..The gov't would rather use the people's money to fight useless wars over seas. That is waste. There was a day when we had clear blue sky,clean air.
Americans fell in love with the car. A love affair started by Mr Ford. It was to replace the horse that had to go and others had to clean up its droppings. Yet the car is as dirty as the horse it replaced. The car has dirtied our air to the point it makes me sick. That stuff coming out the tail poke is not clean. I would rather see fewer cars running the roadss. People think mass transit buses are for the poor and are too good to ride it. Some of us have to ride it as we can't drive. Alot of people hate Micrsoft.But MS has its workers take the bus. They park and ride.I have nickname tha place where MS workers park their cars to take the public transportion to their work the MS parking lot, It is round the corner where i live. If MS can help get cars off the roads so can others. People won't car pool. There are certain things I do not share. I am legally blind so so I have to walk. Use the bus. stuart, persons are selfish as a rule. I can understand why one should be careful. People are selfish. Standoffish. As children we were taught to share. As adults it is not to be done. It is the silly laws this nation has passed to over ride this. I am for public transit. America use to make things we use. Now we don't. America is just one nation no better than the next. Maybe when the bridge opens they will be grateful to them that built it. There are too many cars using it and the roads.

[Ferrell-2]

All states, not just California, need transportation money for roads and bridges. Everyone of them are hoping "Murphy's Law" is not applicable to them and this is dangerous. At some point in the near future, all states and the federal government are going to have to make this an imperative issue (ala bank bailouts) and fix it. We are a mobile nation and transportation problems can no longer take last priority.

[stuart-johns2]

What do you mean, "can no longer take last priority"? They never should have taken "last priority" to begin with. So your saying taking last priority was alright up to a certain extent? What extent was that?

[stuart-johns2]

Good. If that's what it takes to get people to use public transportation I am all for it. We consume totally too much fossil fuel in this country and most is a waste.

People won't share rides and I may not blame them given the lunatics out there. But you can share with co-workers whom you know. People just don't want to. They want their private vehicles. Americans are so spoiled. The most powerful and richest nation on earth has given its citizens some very bad habits.

And it's most of these same people who complain about the deficits to our children. Go figure.

[kenhamlett]

Both the Bay Bridge and the Dumbarton to the south should have been replaced 20 years ago. Look to the state assembly if you want to place any blame for the current problems. They have had a nonstop agenda of wasting money instead of paying attention to the infrastructure of the state.
The people of this area are extremely valuable to California, the nation and the world. Unfortunately the state can not be bothered to aid them as they lead the world with their ideas and products. They can not be very productive if they can't even get to work. California should be ashamed of the state government's poor planning.