More than 30 massive earthquake safety bolts on San Francisco’s newly redesigned Bay Bridge fail....

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ^ | Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 5:26 PM | David Knowles /

[BenLurkin]

SAN FRANCISCO --The most expensive public works project in California history just got a little more so.

At least 32 massive seismic stabilizing bolts on San Francisco’s newly redesigned eastern span of the Bay Bridge failed during a stress test earlier this month, imperiling the structure’s Labor Day weekend grand opening.

Of the span’s 96 bolts, which range in length from 9 to 17 feet, 32 snapped when stress meant to simulate the lateral motion of a large earthquake was introduced, the Sacramento Bee reported

[Gertie]

Had a mechanical dog like that once, every time I kicked him in the nuts, he made a bolt for the door....

[BenLurkin]

[Chode]

and what RAT contributor got the contract to make the bolts???

[BfloGuy]

Made in China ...

Read the article. The bolts were made in the U.S..

[nascarnation]

Per the WSJ these were fabricated in Painesville, Ohio (near my old stomping ground of Cleveland) and the problem was hydrogen embrittlement due to faulty galvanizing.

[nascarnation]

Ping to post 25

[dennisw]

thanks! and acknowledgement

[nascarnation]

For those who slept thru metallurgy class....

http://corrosion-doctors.org/Forms-HIC/embrittlement.htm

[Axenolith]

I’ll have to verify, but from what I’d originally heard, they snapped merely from the load of being torqued to spec and setting for a while.

[Axenolith]

This is something you want to find out BEFORE you pour a few hundred yards of concrete around it...

That these wouldn’t have been tested before use, like a 10% sampling, is beyond belief...

[ApplegateRanch]

First thing I thought of was Chinese steel (and some Chinese labor, IIRC), but, Unlike the Chinese-built deck sections, the bolts - some as long 17 as feet - were produced in the United States.

source

[Secret Agent Man]

massive fail

[jiggyboy]

Oh that was in the design from day one.

“American steelworker unions have disparaged the Bay Bridge contract by accusing the state of California of sending good jobs overseas and settling for what they deride as poor-quality Chinese steel. Industry groups in the United States and other countries have raised questions about the safety and quality of Chinese workmanship on such projects.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Noob1999]

And just how do you remove a 17 foot bolt out of it’s hole to replace it?? Go up - maybe 3 foot; go down maybe four foot.

So let’s just start over! Another “shovel ready” project for stimulus #6!

[BunnySlippers]

More here too.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/development/2013/03/bay-bridge-bolt-problem-arose-quality-control-lapses-officials-say

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Let’s hope on inauguration day for this bridge Pelosi is crossing it and a massive 9.0 quake hits SF...and let’s hope she is accompaning the Bummer, there to let his teleprompter make a speech.

[Cementjungle]

That these wouldn’t have been tested before use, like a 10% sampling, is beyond belief...

More jobs will be "created" this way.

[tinamina]

Probably that much vaunted Chinese steel.
My brother worked on a big ship project in which the very huge bolts were made from Chinese steel. The big one fused onto the project when they tried to apply it and it had to be totally scrapped and they had to start over from scratch. Private sector though, so they managed to keep on delivery schedule despite the Chinese interference.