The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck with 6.9 magnitude and shook up much of Northern California, killing 63 people. Of them, 42 died when a chunk of the Cypress Street Viaduct of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed.

It took almost 24 years and $6.4 billion, but the span finally reopened in September.

What follows will bring the reader up to date on recent developments.

Reported the Sacramento Bee this week, “Yun Chung, a retired engineer and metallurgist, read the official report explaining why massive, high-strength steel rods on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge broke last March and was stunned – then alarmed. … He concluded that the analysis defied metallurgical science and common sense.”

Chung, who specialized in high-strength steel analysis for the nuclear power industry, reported that Caltrans only focused on the hydrogen effects during the production process. Chung said some rods could pose long-term risks. “I want Caltrans to have the right understanding of the problem,” he said, “Then they can have the right corrective actions.”

Supplemental report

Chung then produced a new, supplemental report, “Main Concerns About Anchor Rods on the New Bay Bridge,” issued on Nov. 29. It was written with Lisa K. Thomas, a metals and metallurgical engineer at the Berkeley Research Company, and commissioned by the Bee.

TBPOC is the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee. The new report says:

“This supplement specifically focuses on the problems unique to the anchor rods for the main cable (also identified as PWS – Parallel Wire Strands) and the tower base. … This supplement is deemed necessary because TBPOC-Caltrans have been oblivious to the metallurgical conditions unique to these anchor rods, which may have HE [hydrogen embrittlement] susceptibility worse than other anchor rods, contrary to TBPOC- Caltrans’ expectations….

The Bee reported, “Testing will continue through the middle of 2014 at a cost of $4.1 million, plus support costs.” Add the $4.1 million to the $6.4 billion cost to build the bridge … and keep counting.

Chung and Thomas again:

“Caltrans, their contractors, and consultants have all missed this point. FHWA engineers neglected to consider the effects of cold thread rolling on HE failures when they calculated HE susceptibility risks using their own Greg Assessment Tool.”  

Chung and Thomas found several errors in the Caltrans oversight committee’s report, concluding that there were “several signs that Caltrans engineers lack expertise in fracture mechanics based KISCC analyses,” after blindly copying incorrect information from a book by Prof. John Fisher and his co-authors during the May 8, 2013 Bay Bridge Briefing.

‘Quakeproof’?

Caltrans claims the new span is “quakeproof.” But on August 28, UC Berkeley Alumni magazine reported:

“Cal professor of civil and environmental engineering Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl told us only a few hours before Wednesday night’s closing of the old span that he believed the new span is so deficient in its design and execution that it is much less safe than the old one. It was Astaneh-Asl who led a Cal team that investigated damage to the old Bay Bridge after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and determined that the structure’s foundations were sound.”

Oversight vetoed

State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Contra Costa, formed a special oversight committee and has been conducting hearings about the mismanagement and Bay Bridge construction boondoggles.

DeSaulnier, also chairman of the Transportation and Housing Committee, together with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, tried to form an independent task force to conduct oversight into Caltrans and the Bay Bridge safety issues. They requested legal indemnification through legislation under Senate Bill 110 for a panel of experts to move forward with a review.

“Task force members, however, did not wish to proceed absent being provided immunity, hence SB110, which contains an urgency clause so the task force can commence its work at the earliest possible time,” bill analysis said.

The bill passed through both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, leaving DeSaulnier and the Transportation Committee to do their own investigation of the Bay Bridge.

“In the coming months, the committee will conduct a thoughtful examination of the problems that caused this project to be 10 years late and $5 billion over budget,” DeSaulnier said following Brown’s veto of SB110. “The toll payers deserve answers. There are many lessons to be learned that can help us make Caltrans management more accountable and improve the outcomes of future mega-projects.”

But that decision was tossed and other “officials” voted to adopt a “temporary fix” to the new bridge, to meet the Labor Day opening. We don’t yet know what the “temporary fix” is.

In March, one third of the 96 threaded steel rods cracked as workers tightened them down.

When confronted by reporters in May with the new construction setbacks, Gov. Jerry Brown said, “Don’t know if it’s a setback. I mean, look, s**t happens.”

Will “s**t happen” again? The cracked bolts weren’t the first problem with the new bridge, under construction since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

The oversight committee is made up of state and local transportation officials. A permanent fix to the bolts will be ready in mid-December.

The bridge oversight committee voted to reestablish the Labor Day opening at a meeting last week. The old Bay Bridge bridge closes at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, August 29 and the new span will open to commuter traffic by 5 a.m. on Tuesday, September 3.

A legacy on the line

With his legacy on the line, Brown is banking on several major infrastructure projects: The $25 billion Delta twin water tunnels, the $68 billion high-speed rail, and the $6.4 billion new eastern span of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge.

Brown has  been banking on the bridge project since he was Mayor of Oakland, 1999-2007.

Brown has justified the massive infrastructure projects because California “is in a building mood.”

Cost overruns have escalated the total cost to build the bridge to a whopping $6.4 billion, $4 billion over the original estimate.

After the 1989 earthquake, Caltrans decided to retrofit both the eastern and western spans of the bridge. “The 1.8-mile western span retrofit was completed early last year at a cost $471 million — which was $82 million less than originally budgeted,” the San Francisco Examiner reported.

However, the eastern span is $4 billion over budget, and a decade behind schedule. But that’s not the only problem.

According to CBS San Francisco in May, retired Bechtel metallurgist Yun Chung prepared an unsolicited 32-page report stating that Caltrans engineers “were ignorant to the threat of hydrogen embrittlement — a process in which high strength metals, such as steel, become brittle and fracture due to hydrogen exposure.” He said Caltrans “fell on its face.”

Caltrans with egg on its face

In May, I wrote a story offering a little history and perspective about the post-Loma Prieta earthquake damage:

Immediately after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the civil construction bridge building contractor, C.C. Myers of Rancho Cordova, rebuilt two damaged bridges on Highway 1 near Watsonville under budget, and ahead of schedule.

Caltrans allowed only 100 days for completion of the project, and offered Meyers cash incentives to make the project happen under budget, and ahead of schedule. Meyers finished the job 45 days earlier than the Caltrans deadline, and earned $1 million in incentives.

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake in Southern California, 6.7 on the Richter Scale, damaged four bridges on the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles. Myers’ successes with the projects after the Loma Prieta earthquake made his company a natural for this project.

C.C. Myers, Inc. won the contract to replace and replace the freeways with one caveat: the work had to be completed in 140 days. But this was L.A., notorious for congested freeways. The State of California offered Meyers $200,000 per day as a bonus for every day ahead of schedule the project was completed. Meyers’ company finished the job in 66 days, 74 days ahead of schedule, and received a $14.8 million bonus for his outstanding work.

Experts said Myers managed to perform what would have taken Caltrans 18 months of work, in only 66 days.

Caltrans leadership

Matthew Dougherty was just reconfirmed as Caltrans Director, by the Senate in May. It was a controversial decision because it’s been under Dougherty’s watch, with decades of management at Caltrans, many mishaps, corruption, mistakes and cover ups, have taken place. Dougherty’s behind is on the line with the re-opening of the Bay Bridge next Tuesday. But more are worried about long-term structural safety, well beyond Tuesday.

Have taxpayers actually purchased the $6.4 billion bridge they were promised, or a structure that will require costly repairs relatively soon?

Caltrans receives failing marks on other projects as well. A January report from the California League of Cities , California State Association of Counties and other transportation organizations found only 56 percent of California’s local streets and roads were deemed to be in “good” condition, and 49 of the state’s 58 counties were rated “At Risk” or in “Poor’ condition.

But hey, “s**t happens.”

By Katy Grimes

The Caltrans Bay Bridge debacle is worse than just a case of embarrassment for government infrastructure projects. The bridge is unsafe, according to engineering experts across the country, after the discovery that a third of the of the 96 massive, high-strength steel rods, installed for seismic safety, cracked under pressure when the nuts affixed to the rods were tightened.

Under construction for more than a decade, the Bay Bridge project has not only taken much longer to build than planned, but cost overruns have escalated the total cost to build it to a whopping $6.4 billion. And that’s not the half of it.

According to CBS San Francisco, retired Bechtel metallurgist Yun Chung recently prepared an unsolicited 32-page report stating that Caltrans engineers “were ignorant to the threat of hydrogen embrittlement — a process in which high strength metals, such as steel, become brittle and fracture due to hydrogen exposure.” He said Caltrans “fell on its face.”

Chung, who specialized in high-strength steel analysis for the nuclear power industry, reported that Caltrans only focused on the hydrogen effects during the production process.

This is the result of the close alliances between government and public employee labor unions which make the purpose of the work appear secondary to union interests, even when public safety is involved.

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

The Loma Prieta Earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter Scale, which caused the Oakland Bay Bridge to break, took place 24 years ago in 1989.  During the 15-second earthquake, the freeway buckled and twisted, causing the support columns to break. The upper freeway deck crashed onto the lower deck; 41 people were crushed to death in their cars.

Today, 24 years later, the Oakland Bay Bridge is still under construction.

In 1989, George H.W. Bush was President, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union finally left Afganastan, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Nanjing protested in Tiananmen Square.

Mortgage interest rates hit 15 percent, and California’s minimum wage was $4.25.

1989 seems like a lifetime ago. And Caltrans has been working on the Bay bridge the entire time.

Free market infrastructure successes

Immediately after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the civil construction bridge building contractor, C.C. Myers of Rancho Cordova, rebuilt two damaged bridges on Highway 1 near Watsonville under budget, and ahead of schedule.

Caltrans allowed only 100 days for completion of the project, and offered Meyers cash incentives to make the project happen under budget, and ahead of schedule. Meyers finished the job 45 days earlier than the Caltrans deadline, and earned $1 million in incentives.

That’s the free market at work.

Myers rebuilt the Santa Monica freeway the same way after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

1994 Northridge earthquake

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake in Southern California, 6.7 on the Richter Scale, damaged four bridges on the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles. Myers’ successes with the projects after the Loma Prieta earthquake made his company a natural for this project.

C.C. Myers, Inc. won the contract to replace and replace the freeways with one caveat: the work had to be completed in 140 days. But this was L.A., notorious for congested freeways. The State of California offered Meyers $200,000 per day as a bonus for every day ahead of schedule the project was completed. Meyers’ company finished the job in 66 days, 74 days ahead of schedule, and received a $14.8 million bonus for his outstanding work.

Experts said Myers managed to perform what would have taken Caltrans 18 months of work, in only 66 days.

C.C. Myers is a shining example of the free market. “Six years ago, C.C. Myers and his team proved dramatically that if bureaucracy will simply get out of the way, we can build highways cheaply, quickly and safely,” Rep. Tom McClintock said in year 2000 at a press conference, commenting about the rapid opening of the freeways.

Bay Bridge debacle

Compare these two fantastically successful projects with Caltrans’ handling of the Oakland Bay Bridge project —  years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, along with all of the other malfeasance, dishonesty, payola, and shadiness I wrote about recently in, “Despite Caltrans boondoggles, acting director to be confirmed.”

“In March, anchor bolts meant to secure seismic equipment on the new bridge broke — an event attributed partly to water-induced corrosion,” the Sacramento Bee reported. “Caltrans similarly failed to take basic precautions to protect many skyway tendons from water even after the agency completed its study. Those lapses and others, said nine leading experts in the corrosion of bridge tendons, introduced uncertainty about the durability of the skyway.”

“Experts said that while a total collapse seemed unlikely, if Caltrans miscalculated corrosion estimates a major quake could cripple sections of the skyway.”

The Bee continued: “Experts agreed that strong skyway foundations and piers, plus the factor of safety — ’10 percent extra tendons,’ according to Caltrans — make a disastrous collapse of the bridge improbable, even in a devastating quake.”

But if tendons are more corroded than Caltrans’ study indicates, said Hawkins of the University of Illinois, a massive temblor might render one or more sections of the skyway unusable.

Another looming question, experts said, is whether taxpayers have purchased the $6.4 billion bridge they were promised, or a structure that will require costly repairs relatively soon.

Caltrans Director Matthew Dougherty was just reconfirmed by the Senate. It’s under Dougherty’s watch and decades in management at Caltrans that many mishaps, corruption, mistakes and cover ups have taken place.

Caltrans officials know C.C. Myers would have had this project wrapped up years ago, delivered under budget and ahead of schedule.  It is not too late to bring them in to clean up this mess.