The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which has been closed since Thursday night for a seismic retrofit, could remain closed indefinitely. Inspectors found a large crack in a support strut that authorities say would have "closed the bridge on its own."
The Bay Bridge crack was found as inspectors took the time of the closure to do a full inspection of the bridge. The flaw was found in a steel link that helps hold up the eastern portion of the bridge span. The link is almost 2 inches thick and was cracked halfway through.
Caltrans construction manager Mike Forner noted this morning that there was a lot of rust in the Bay Bridge crack, so it had been there for some time, and that the crack was large enough to been seen from the ground with the naked eye, even though it is 120 feet in the air.
On Saturday night, crews completed the original planned task of maneuvering a new section of the Bay Bridge into place, which is why the bridge was closed. This is part of the seismic retrofit being done to the 77-year old bridge since the Loma Prieta quake in 1989.
The original plan was to reopen the Bay Bridge on Tuesday, in time for the post-holiday traffic. However, with the crack that was found, the bridge will remain closed until a fix is made.
A plan has been developed for the repair of the BayB ridge crack. Crews will weld a steel saddle around the damaged area which will redistribute the stress.
The parts needed for the repair have already been manufactured and shipped overnight by Stinger Welding Inc. in Coolidge, AZ. A 10 person crew will work on the repairs of the Bay Bridge crack.
Cross your fingers, or else Bay Area commuters, already inconvenienced by the Bay Bridge closure, may face an extension of that slowdown.
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