SF Bay Bridge closed Aug 28 to Sept 3

fj12ryder wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

bikendan wrote:
i just love some of the out-of-staters' uninformed/incorrect comments!:S

Please elaborate, some of us would like to know about the misinformation. Feel free to enlighten and inform.

What are these "uninformed/incorrect comments"? If I'm reading wrong information I would like to know. Or are you just venting?

Sure, since I live in the SF Bay area and will be badly affected by this closure..

1) It's not 36" diameter pins, they are bolts that are 3-6ft long, and they were not pounded in and then concreted, they was placed to hold down a shear key, and then the road bed was placed above it.

They did not break until they went to tighten them. They failed from a process called hydrogen enbrittlement, where hydrogen (from sitting in water) gets into the metal and causes the bolt/rod to be too brittle.

2) Labor day weekend is normally the lowest traffic day over the bridge in SF, since so many people are on vacation. They need 5 days this time to re-align the traffic ways on and off the new section of the bridge. I'm wondering how many accidents in the first week or so there will be.

3) The whole process (ie, Chinese steel was $500 million cheaper than US Steel; it really couldn't be fabricated in US (lost industrials area), the cost just went up.. and up.. and up.. delays after delays occurred; City mayors interfering with the whole process, Engineers arguing over just how safe the whole thing (way more safer than the old bridge whose foundations are in 300ft of mud!)

I read/watch about this in the news everyday, and I just want the new section open and the old section torn down.