Posted on 08/10/2020 8:25:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A series of errors by contractors and consultants on the California bullet train venture caused support cables to fail on a massive bridge crucial to the project, triggering an order to stop work that further delayed a project already years behind schedule, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
The bridge is longer than two football fields and is needed to shuttle vehicles over the future bullet train right of way and existing BNSF freight tracks in Madera County.
Authorities have yet to finalize a plan to repair the bridge. Late last year, crews installed temporary steel supports to prevent it from collapsing.
Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Times under a public records request show the steel supports snapped as a result of neglect, work damage, miscommunications and possible design problems.
The problems on the Road 27 bridge reveal project management hitches that have dogged the bullet train for years. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has five separate layers of consultants and contractors on the bridge. Any one of them could have identified a long series of errors but failed to do so.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has long wrestled with its dependence on consultants and outside experts, with a 2018 state audit faulting the agency for being overly reliant on these private interests.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Govt hires favored contractor - who really knows nothing...
He subcontracts to other favored contractors- who also know nothing.
They subcontract out to others, and so on, .. maximizing their profit cut while subcontracting out to the lowest bidders.
Can you say “boondoggle”?
I knew you could.
Yup. If only they had 6 or 7 ...
$34M Settlement Reached for Defective Work on Bay Bridge
The bridge's $6.4 billion eastern span, completed in 2013, was designed to withstand an 8.5-magnitude earthquake, but several defects – including cracks in the foundation, brittle support rods, questionable Chinese and Korean steel and bolt holes that leak water through the deck – have raised alarms about safety.
Botched, Stupid, and expensive mistakes, but
Horrible would be collapsing with train on it, and people underneath
The entire project isn’t about building a ‘bullet Train’, it’s about getting free government money contracts that never end..................
They can’t even build a train to nowhere.
Who didnt see that coming?
>>The bridge is longer than two football fields and is needed to shuttle vehicles over the future bullet train right of way and existing BNSF freight tracks in Madera County.
The bridge is designed to put people in their own vehicles out of their way (and into harms ways) to make way for the sacred Obamatrain.
It’s Progress-O-fornia. What else can one expect? After all, incompetency is their most important product. They just love Venezuela, and hope to achieve that country’s reputation asap.
As long as the politicos got their kickbacks, it’s all good.
You gotta watch out for those Korean trains....
The bolt holes were readily identifiable as being from China because when a light was shined through them “made in china” projected on a surface held close. Sources said there was no ASTM spec for bolt holes
Look for the union label.
Amazing how the Hoover dam and the Golden Gate bridge got built so quickly in the 1930’s. Couldn’t happen today.
If you're a consultant in a situation like this, clarity is not financially helpful. To keep the checks coming in, it helps to keep things confused.
America has a 3rd world government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.