Engineers Making 'Satisfactory Progress' On Salesforce Transit Center Repairs
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- After being closed for seven months, repairs are continuing at the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco -- where two cracked steel beams were discovered last September.
Engineers say they are hoping to finish the repairs by June.
The steel plate material that will be used to reinforce the two areas where cracks were found, just above Fremont Street, arrived late last month from Pennsylvania via Stockton-based steel fabricator Herrick, according to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority overseeing the project at the regional transit hub.
That same steel plate material will also be used to reinforce the area above First Street.
Although no cracks were ever found above First Street, it's being reinforced because it's structurally similar to the Fremont Street area where the cracks were found.
"The TJPA is very eager to get bus operations started again," the joint authority's senior construction manager Dennis Turchon said Wednesday. "We are making satisfactory progress, better than we hoped on the actual repair installation itself."
Once the repairs and reinforcements are completed, the shoring that's currently holding up the areas above Fremont and First streets will be removed, Turchon said.
Also, once the repairs and reinforcements are complete, an independent review conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will commence.
"We have an independent review. There's been many eyes on this and we're very confident that this repair is a conservative repair," Turchon said.
Although the repairs have been underway for months, Turchon said engineers are continuing to routinely check the entire facility to make sure no more cracks are discovered.
"To date we've found nothing else to be of concern. It's only been the cracks on Fremont Street," he said.
TJPA officials said a date for the reopening of the transit center and its rooftop park has not been determined. A timeframe to reopen the transit center would be determined once the MTC's review is complete and engineers and the MTC determine that no other repairs need to be made.
The $2.2 billion four-story Salesforce Transit Center -- stretching four city blocks and equipped with access to bus service, a 5.4-acre rooftop public park and space for retail shops, art displays and restaurants -- first opened in August. Just weeks later, however, the discovery of the cracked steel beams forced the center's closure.
Turchon is expected to provide an update on the repairs at the TJPA's Board of Directors meeting on Thursday at City Hall.
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