In 1989 the Eastern Span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge that connected San Francisco to Oakland collapsed during an earthquake. Fortunately, this damaged area was restricted to the upper level so the rest of the bridge was still able to be used by commuters. Estimates to retrofit the damaged area were rejected as too costly and the section was simply sealed off until an economical solution could be found.
A few years later in 1995, plans were drawn up that could upgrade the east and west spans of the bridge for a bargain price of just $250 million. At that price, it would be rude to say no, and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) voted to get the reconstruction underway.
Detailed engineering studies conducted on the surrounding soil within the following year, however, revealed an oversight that the preliminary plans missed. The results brought to light that the soil was not going to be sufficient to maintain the additional weight from the upcoming retrofitting works. To make the structure stable, bearing in mind the area was prone to earthquakes, the pilings would have to be anchored in the bedrock itself which meant drilling into a much harder surface and also a lot deeper.
The bearings and shear keys, which allow the bridge to move within limited parameters in the event of any seismic activity, also had to be amended. All of this meant additional costs and in the space of a year, before any work had even started, the price tag had ballooned from $250 million to $1.285 billion.
By 1998 that cost estimate had doubled to $2.6 billion. The reason this time was not about the structural integrity of the bridge but its aesthetic appeal. Many local architects wanted the bridge not just to be practical but also to look good. They wanted to have a design like no other, to create a recognizable landmark for decades to come, which came with its own price tag.
With an option to go conventional or experimental, a group of architects, seismologists, and academics, with very little experience among them in actually constructing bridges, elected to go for a daring new design. This complex new suspension bridge with a single tower was considered experimental. It had never been tested on the scale proposed and would bring technical obstacles that would be challenging to overcome. Yet still, it was approved by Caltrans.
Work began in 2002, and in the following three years another $2.4 billion had to be sourced from public funds to cover the rising costs of steel and concrete, increased general material expenses, insurance premiums rising, the complexity of the tower structure, and, worst of all, poor money management. The total had now escalated from $250 million to over $5 billion, and public frustration was escalating to match the new figures.
But still, there was more financial pain to come, compounded when inspectors discovered fractured rods, cracks in the welds, misaligned road decks, rusting bolts, and unstable steel rods that anchor the tower in place, to name just a few of the challenges.
The sheer untried complexity of the suspension and tower design continued to plague the construction crew over the years, right up until the bridge was finally finished in September 2013.
When it comes to bridges, a tried and tested design, slightly embellished perhaps for aesthetic purposes, should be the way to go. The over-complicated design of the Bay Bridge, with its striking self-anchored suspension design, became one of the most expensive bridges in the United States. The initial budget of $250 million, which leaped to a staggering $6.5 billion over the course of the ambitious Bay Bridge project, will have to be paid back somehow.
After all, despite how the astronomical funds were seemingly plucked from thin air, money doesn’t grow on trees and when the bill comes due for repayment, local residents and commuters crossing the retro Bay Bridge, are going to have to foot the bill.