Bridge Engineers Say California Ordered Flaws Overlooked

Bloomberg | January 25, 2014 | James Nash

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Next major earthquake that hits San Francisco, that thing’s going into the bay.

PING!

[Black Agnes]

Hope you’re not going to be on that bridge anytime soon!

[Mr. K]

THE GOVERNMENT did this, but California libtards will always vote for MORE GOVERNMENT

[PapaNew]

I wouldn't be surprised to find the main point of the article and testimony about cutting corners true.

But a couple non-essential things in the article don't seem to add up. As far as I know it was part of the WESTERN section of the bridge that collapsed during the quake and it was fairly quickly fixed. I'm not aware of quake damage to the eastern section. It was later that they decided to replace the entire cantilevered eastern section with a suspension bridge. That project took a long time and is which I believe this article is about. Not clear under those circumstances what the timing crisis was all about since the old cantilevered section was used until the new bridge was finished.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Amazing. Bridge-builders now need 10 times more time and money than they did when the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges were erected, and the sole reason is new regulations. And yet they can’t ensure that the bridges are any safer. Perhaps some sub-species of mosquito which happens to live in the area benefited from the environmental impact reports, who knows.

[bert]

Show us the welder certifications

Show us the weld x rays

[Paladin2]

"Show us the welder certifications Show us the weld x rays"

Do you have those for the WTC floor joist angle iron seats welded to the outer columns?

[bert]

Certifications yes. X rays , maybe

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

No, I believe it was the eastern section that had a deck collapse right where the bridge approached the truss section.

[Carry_Okie]

As far as I know it was part of the WESTERN section of the bridge that collapsed during the quake and it was fairly quickly fixed.

No. It was the eastern cantilever span that failed. The western suspension section did fine.

[Carry_Okie]

Anybody who blames Moonbeam for this is mistaken. This is Arnold’s baby, lock, stock, and barrel. It was he who pulled Bechtel off the job for Peter Kiewitt, in whom Arnold’s buddy Warren Buffet is a major stockholder.

[concentric circles]

More details here:

Caltrans ignored shoddy work on Bay Bridge in China and U.S. - Sacramento Bee

The story relates that Jim Merrill, while managing quality control for steel work done by the Chinese firm, Zhenhua Port Machinery Co., warned Caltrans that parts had hundreds of cracks contrary to both the production contract and welding codes. He felt that Caltrans was more concerned with the work schedule than with safety. Shortly afterward the inspection firm was fired and replaced by another company which was unable to perform the necessary testing until they hired employees away from the rejected firm.

Douglas Coe was transfered from supervising the Chinese work to another project in California after discovering cracks in the welds on components of the bridge suspension tower. He ordered the construction firm to do more testing and was told by Caltrans manager Tony Anziano to back off.

[onedoug]

Remember this from 1994?...

Santa Monica Freeway to Reopen on Tuesday : Recovery: The contractor will get a $14.5-million bonus for finishing earthquake repairs 74 days early

[Cyber Liberty]

I hate to say it, but that has to be the butt-ugliest bridge I’ve ever seen.

[hal ogen]

Government drones strike again! Liars. Criminals.

[353FMG]

All hidden flaws will be exposed at the next quake.

[NVDave]

Yet another “own goal” by the advocates of “free trade.” The PRC company won the big, no doubt by bidding below cost.

For the PRC and PLA, it was a cheap way to gain important knowledge about US infrastructure and internal bidding practices for infrastructure projects.

And of course the Chinese steel and welds are crap. Any one who has welded on, or machined, Chinese steel knows that it’s crap steel. Always has been.

[B4Ranch]

That’s an understatement.

[PapaNew]

Well, you learn something new every day - it was the eastern section after all.

But even so, as far as I know they fixed that part that fell pretty quickly. Still don't get the urgency issue with building the whole new suspension bridge some time later.