DeSaulnier Wants Criminal Probe of Bay Bridge Construction

The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge has been open nearly 11 months now. But the controversy over construction problems and cost overruns on the structure, which has been building for years, shows no sign of abating.

The latest sign: State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) called, via a story in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend, for a criminal investigation into the construction issues. DeSaulnier says a report that his Senate Transportation and Housing Committee will release this week shows that Caltrans knowingly accepted substandard work at public expense.

The new report, which follows a draft released in January, will be the subject of a Sacramento hearing next week. DeSaulnier told the Bee's Charles Piller, who has produced a long series of investigative stories on the woes that have attended the bridge's construction, that some of the testimony expected is "quite disturbing."

DeSaulnier, in his second term in the state Senate, is running to replace retiring Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) in Congress.

Just to review, here are some of the problems tied to the bridge's construction: political battles over the bridge's design; the failure of massive steel rods designed to anchor the span's seismic stability devices; questions about the soundness of steel used in more than 2,000 other steel rods and bolts; leaks in the bridge's skyway structure that exposed crucial steel tendons to moisture and corrosion; leaks in the suspension span that could corrode structural steel; cracked welds in sections of road deck; and steel particles in the suspension tower's gleaming white finish that are causing it to yellow prematurely.

The price tag for all that (and, yes, a functional bridge): $6.5 billion and counting (the San Francisco Chronicle's Phil Matier and Andrew Ross report today on the mounting bill for testing the steel rods and bolts).

In Piller's weekend story for the Bee, DeSaulnier said he wants independent authorities — experts who haven't been affiliated with the span's construction — to conduct a "comprehensive review" of the structure's defects. He also said he'd like the Federal Highway Administration to review Caltrans' handling of the project.

Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty told Piller he'd welcome further oversight, adding that he looks forward to next week's Senate hearing “as an opportunity to talk about why our confidence is so high” in the safety of the bridge.

Piller's story continues:

Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and chairman of the oversight committee for Bay Bridge construction, recently said that some independent experts have “let perfect be the enemy of the good.” He and Caltrans say that the bridge is solid and will last 150 years. He declined to be interviewed for this story.

After years of delays and $5 billion in costs beyond the initial estimate, DeSaulnier said, neither he nor the public can passively accept such reassurances.

“We don’t know what we got for that – how much it will cost to maintain the bridge and what will happen when there’s another (major earthquake),” he said. “That’s three strikes to me. It’s a long way from perfection.”

DeSaulnier said officials have shown “indifference at the best, and at the worst, disdain, for the people who pay for the bridge” via taxes, and tolls that have risen sixfold since 1997.