Bay Bridge closed “indefinitely” – the bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland was closed after the emergency repairs made on Labor Day weekend broke off and fell to the bridge decking. While the bridge is not in danger of collapse, this is a serious structural problem.
A replacement bridge has been under construction for a long time and is hoped to be done in 2013
One of the cable “I” ends broke causing the cable to lose tension and recoil, Ironically, the cable that broke was in fact on the same section that collapsed during the 1989 Quake, Not long ago, they found a cracked base plate, that was repaired in the exact same location, the cracked base plate that holds sections together with bolts was discovered, and was reported it may have been like that since ‘ 89
Damn that George Bush!
So, after they build the new bridge, will they send the old one to Lake Havasu?
You were probably joking, but that is an issue. Because the bridge was designated as a “national historic landmark”, at least part of it is going to be sent to a museum to “preserve” it so future generations can experiene it..
I think England may buy it , they miss London Bridge.
According to the history on their web site, the original bridge took 3 years to build. With all the advances in construction techniques, computer aided design, etc.. building this replacement is taking 12 years assuming it stays on schedule. How far we’ve come in 70 years.
More impotantly, when the Bay Bridge was built orginally, Men “worked” for a living not sitting around talking about building a bridge. and taking breaks and looking back at what they did 15 minutes previously.
One of the bay bridge web sites has a video of the casting of the “cable saddle” for the main part of the bridge – the saddle is where the cables rest on the tower to transfer the weight of the bridge. The thing was made in a steel company in Japan…