Demolition Of Old Bay Bridge To Take Years

[cpzilliacus]

CBS San Francisco: Demolition Of Old Bay Bridge To Take Years

While the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge will open to traffic in September, the work needed to take down the old roadway is expected to take years.

"These bridges define us...in some ways as much as the bay itself,"  said Brad McCrea, regulatory director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the state agency that oversees protection of the bay.

[Lytton]

Damn.

7 years just to take down a bridge?

[nexus73]

Here's how you take down the bridge quickly...use a smart bomb...LOL!

Rick

[agentsteel53]

CBS San Francisco: Demolition Of Old Bay Bridge To Take Years

While the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge will open to traffic in September, the work needed to take down the old roadway is expected to take years.

"These bridges define us...in some ways as much as the bay itself,"  said Brad McCrea, regulatory director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the state agency that oversees protection of the bay.

non sequitur.  if the bridge didn't define us, it would take less time?

[kkt]

Damn.

7 years just to take down a bridge?

I don't see the number 7 in the story.  It just says "years".

[roadfro]

Further down in the story, there's an estimate of seven years and $240 million mentioned.

[Alps]

Well, the cheap way is to just knock the bridge into the bay. I presume they're salvaging the materials so as not to foul the water and destroy the precious endangered clams or whatever.

[mapman1071]

The Transbay Tube crosses diag NW to SE under the center of the old span. Caltrans does not want to disrupt BART operations thru the tube if they use normal demilition.

[agentsteel53]

Well, the cheap way is to just knock the bridge into the bay. I presume they're salvaging the materials so as not to foul the water and destroy the precious endangered clams or whatever.

is the east side of the bay used as a shipping channel?

[andy3175]

More on the old bay bridge eastern span demolition ... a new plan.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28663363/caltrans-seeking-permit-bring-down-bay-bridge-support

Caltrans is seeking permits to demolish the largest pier of the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge with explosives, a procedure that could be dangerous to native marine mammals, but Caltrans officials say it would have the least impact on bay wildlife.

Federal agencies are still taking public comment on the planned implosion, which if approved would take place in November.

Much of the obsolete bridge is slowly being deconstructed piece by piece, but Pier E3, a 268-foot-tall chunk of concrete set in the bay mud, could be pulverized in only six seconds.

Caltrans had originally intended to use cofferdams that would clear water from the area around the pier so crews could gradually demolish it, but such work could take many months, Caltrans spokeswoman Leah Robinson-Leach said. The agency determined a controlled implosion was the most efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sound way to remove the pier.

The planned demolition procedure would involve setting up an "air curtain" of pipes blowing compressed air through the water around the pier. More than 600 small explosives would be set in the concrete and detonated simultaneously, collapsing the rubble within the air curtain.

The biggest risk to surrounding wildlife -- including seals, sea lions and porpoises -- would be the sound of the explosion, which could injure or even kill the marine mammals.