Community Corner
Bee: Bay Bridge Builders, Caltrans Flubbed Crucial Seismic Safety Tests
A 19-foot span underwent testing before concrete hardened, according to report. Bridge's structural integrity could be at risk, experts say.
The costliest public works project in state history may not be as safe as public officials have led you to believe.
That’s according to a Sacramento Bee investigative report that uncovered faulty testing of a 19-foot span of concrete that experts say could imperil the $6.5 billion bridge’s structural integrity.
According to the Bee report, engineers tested the span before the concrete hardened, and the builders failed to disclose the apparent oversight to officials who could have been tested and then fixed the suspect span.
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The Bee report unearthed other faulty testing that experts say raises more public safety concerns.
It wasn’t until the Bee investigation showed a Caltrans employee blew off crucial tests on the critical structure and made up other test results that the contractors, who were paid $177 million to build the foundation for the bridge’s eastern span, disclosed their role in the botched 2007 testing, the Bee reports.
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Caltrans spokeswoman Tamie McGowen downplayed concerns raised by the Bee report, telling the publication in an email that the improperly tested concrete eventually hardened.
"We are confident in the structural integrity of the main tower foundation and that the bridge will perform as designed to handle an extreme earthquake," McGowen said.
McGowen’s statements are supported by a panel of experts Caltrans commissioned, the Bee reports.
Other engineering experts, however, offered a grim assessment of the testing flaws potential impact on public safety.
"It indicates that things aren't being done according to the highest standards (for) a life-safety issue,” Oakland-based Habitat Engineering & Forensics’ Fari Barzegar told the Bee.
Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan, a world-renowned University of Houston engineering expert told the Bee "This is a little scary. You have to ask yourself if it impacts the quality of the piles.”
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