What was needed was a more prosaic
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl has been portrayed as a Cassandra, but these days he merely seems prescient. The UC Berkeley engineering professor was one of the earliest and most vocal critics of the new Bay Bridge design. The self-supported span was inappropriate for a seismically active area, he said, insisting that what was needed was a more prosaic, anchored span fixed securely to the mainland and Treasure Island.
Caltrans, the state transportation department responsible for the bridge’s construction, countered it was all just sour grapes: Astaneh-Asl, they claimed, was piqued because the bridge’s selection panel had rejected his own design due to “…uncertainties regarding its seismic performance, lack of experience with this type of structure, and (an absence of) firm engineering support information…”
That characterization angered the Cal prof, who has insisted his bedrock concern was, and remains, public safety.
Certainly, the years between design and construction have done little to allay Astaneh-Asl’s—or the public’s—trepidations. Among the problems that have surfaced:
the breaking of 39 of 96 anchor bolts that secured seismic stabilizers known as shear keys
the discovery of cracked and misaligned welds in the suspension span’s roadway
concerns that concrete in the tower’s foundation may be in poor condition
leaks in the span’s deck that will likely lead to corrosion of the main cable and anchor rods
corrosion of the roadway’s internal tendons.