Schwarzenegger terminates $5bn San Francisco bridge plan

[emad]

The Independent
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
02 October 2004


A dizzyingly extravagant project to build a new section of San Francisco's Bay Bridge for more than $5bn (£2.7bn) has been killed off by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, following withering criticisms about the structure's ability to meet its primary goal - withstanding earthquakes.

The project, widely considered a white elephant of monstrous proportions, became ever more expensive as engineers struggled to find a way to build the aesthetically pleasing but structurally bizarre span - a single-tower, self-anchored bridge whose roadway would absorb all the stress of a major quake and thus be prone to collapse.

Although construction has already begun, the governor's office decided it would be better to restart the whole process from scratch - with new design proposals and new financing bids - than to head further down the road toward potential disaster.

Ensuring maximum earthquake safety on the Bay Bridge - one of the busiest commuter routes in the United States, with 280,000 vehicles crossing daily - has been a priority since the last big tremor in the San Francisco area in 1989. The existing bridge could have been retrofitted in a couple of years, but local politicians decided they wanted a "signature" landmark and talked themselves into thinking they could have it for almost the same price.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=568036

[gmoney]

1. Sounds sensible... his new plan: drain the bay

fill it with dirt and landfill, pave it over, and create billions in new real estate

[Kadie]

2. LOL n/t

[not systems]

3. The old bridge is not "retrofitable" and this is stupid.

The old bridge has a big dogleg that is considered
unfixable and is a wave intensifier.

The bridge need replacing and he is putting people
life at risk by delaying it.

[Mz Pip]

4. Although I don't

agree with the Gropernator on terminating the project this has turned into a fiasco. The bridge failed during the last major earthquake in 1989 and we are still futzing around with it. I can hardly blame Schwarzenegger for putting lives at risk here. This has been going on for 15 years and some of the delays were due to folks arguing over the design. Meanwhile the projected costs keep rising and rising and rising.

It took 10 years to replace a collapsed freeway on a MAJOR interchange because of all the squabbling.

MzPip
:dem:

[not systems]

5. It is very likely they will never get a bid this low again.

They can try but time will pass and the whole thing
will end up costing even more.

Hopefully only dollars.

[gmoney]

6. This just in: Halliburton opens bridge construction division

Our motto: "No bid? No problem!"

[Retrograde]

7. right decision, wrong reason - probably

just because the Bay Area didn't vote for him is no reason to assume that there's anything political about the decision. No sirree.

[mitchtv]

8. every day I hate him more

The bay area deserves the best for the most beautiful city in America. Tho, I have not been there for a while, I'll vote for the Bay area anytime. Time to recall the groper.

[hunter]

9. America becoming the "Can't Do" nation...

Bridges, space shuttles, education, "can't do" that.

Pretty soon we will be lying in our own vomit, making excuses for why we can't get up.

George W. Bush, the corrupt "Can't Do" president. The fish rots from the head down.

The first thing America needs to do is kick it's oil habit. Then maybe we'll have the energy to get up off the floor, clean ourselves up, go back to school, and figure out how to rebuild our nation.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. The first thing America needs to do is kick it's oil habit<<

www.ch2bc.org <---------- discovering how to kick the habit, one breakthrough at a time.