Emergency repairs begin on beleaguered bridge
Caltrans began working Friday night on an emergency fix to the haggard RichmondSan Rafael Bridge, where bits of concrete broke loose from the upper deck Thursday and pelted a car below.
They shut down one lane in each direction at about 9 p.m. — and were expecting to continue working on Saturday to replace a metal plate that was installed on Thursday to patch a 6-foot cavity below the roadway of the upper deck. A larger plate is being installed.
On Monday, workers will get
Traffic was limited to one lane Thursday afternoon on the RichmondSan Rafael Bridge after chunks of concrete broke loose from the upper deck and pelted a car below. A fix is expected to take weeks.
started on what Caltrans called a permanent fix of the bridge. Crews will cut a portion of the span to repair the expansion joint underneath, the latest part to fail on a bridge that’s known for perpetual decay and steel architecture that some compare to a bent coat hanger.
The project will cost an estimated $300,000, officials said Friday.
The permanent fix will probably take weeks and will require crews to pour new concrete over the lanes of the bridge’s upper deck, Caltrans District Four Director Tony
Tavares told reporters at the agency’s headquarters in downtown Oakland.
A top engineer at the state transportation agency blamed the bridge’s age for its crumbling material, which forced a nine-hour shutdown and caused traffic jams throughout the region.
Such erosion is “a fact of aging infrastructure,” said Ken Brown, chief of structures maintenance and investigations at Caltrans. He assured that the bridge is structurally sound and safe to cross.
Throughout the weekend, crews will monitor the 5.5-mile cantilever span that carries 82,000 motorists over the choppy water of the bay each day — 87,000 a day during peak months. Caltrans has engineering contractor O.C. Jones & Sons Inc. on standby to mend the expansion joint, Tavares said.
In the meantime, the agency installed plywood underneath the chipped section to prevent more pieces from falling.
Built in the 1950s, the dilapidated span has suffered breaks and gashes over the years, including some holes wide enough to see the water below. Chunks fell off the roadway several times in the early 2000s, requiring Caltrans to close a lane during commute hours while crews scurried to cover the holes with metal plates.
A similar commotion occurred Thursday morning, when a piece of debris fell onto a white Mercedes, forcing the agency to close the bridge — twice — so that workers could install a steel plate in the center lane.
Inspectors had not identified the site during a routine check in August, in which they found several other spots that needed repair, said Andrew Fremier, deputy executive director of operations at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
“It was not obvious,” Fremier said during a commission meeting Friday morning.
He said that joints, which connect sections of the roadway and allow the bridge to move when the temperature changes, endure punishment throughout the day: briny air, rain, mist, and constant pounding from cars and trucks. All those stresses cause corrosion.
“These joints, they’re kind of like the gutters on your house,” Fremier said. “They get a lot of water, and they’re a good place for birds to hang out.”
And they’re not the only problem for the battered bridge, which also has concrete falling from its sides, like stucco bricks pried loose from a house.
“We want to reiterate that the bridge is safe,” Brown said.