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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

September 2004

Political Deadlock Threatens to Slow Bay Bridge East Span Project

Cranes along the East Span's causeway section

Towering cranes outline the path of the new East Span’s causeway section. (Photo: Bill Hall, Caltrans)

Delays Could Push Cost Overruns Even Higher
A dramatic scene unfolded over the region’s waters in late July as giant hoists delicately lifted the first 400-ton steel-reinforced concrete deck section into place on the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Another drama — of the political kind — played out in August when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his proposal for dealing with the cost overruns associated with the state’s Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program, and especially the East Span project.

With construction on the causeway portion of the East Span well under way and the September 30 deadline fast approaching for the state to accept or reject the lone bid for building the final portion of the bridge — a self-anchored suspension span — the issue of how to cover the overruns has come to a head.

Governor Eyes Toll Revenues
The governor sparked a seismic event of his own at the August 16 press conference when he proposed a November 2004 measure asking Bay Area voters to divert money from the new Regional Measure 2 (RM 2) program to pay for the $3.2 billion in cost overruns.

At the same time, the governor called for an independent audit team “to determine why this bridge took so long to plan and construct,” as well as to “perform a complete fiscal analysis of the dollars spent” to date. The third leg of the governor’s three-part solution involved legislation to transfer responsibility for overseeing the Toll Bridge Retrofit Program from Caltrans to MTC, while providing the regional agency “with all of the tools to fix the problem now and in the future.”

Passed by Bay Area voters in March 2004, RM 2 raised tolls on the region’s seven Caltrans bridges to $3, effective July 1, 2004, with proceeds from the $1 increase earmarked for public transit and highway projects to ease traffic congestion in the bridge corridors and to provide transbay commuters with more alternatives to driving.

“The argument that we (Bay Area residents) bear the cost by ourselves is ludicrous. It is not in keeping with tradition or history,” state Senator Tom Torlakson (D – Antioch) told the SF Chronicle in the wake of the press conference.

East Span Bid in Limbo
In the two weeks between the governor’s announcement and the close of the state Legislature’s 2003–2004 session, MTC and the Bay Area legislative delegation quickly mobilized to defend RM 2, countering the Governor’s proposal with Assembly Bill 2366 (spearheaded by Assemblyman John Dutra, D-Fremont, along with incoming state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland). The bill called for an interim solution, whereby the state would accept the construction bid for the suspension span while MTC, acting in its role as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA), would shift toll reserves and refinance existing toll bonds to cover immediate costs.

Suspension span foundations

Suspension span foundations at Yerba Buena Island near completion. (Photo: Bill Hall, Caltrans)

The goal was to buy time to allow BATA and the state to take a measured look at the root causes of the overruns and to develop an equitable solution that draws on federal, state and local funding sources.

While the Perata/Dutra bill passed the Senate, it was never brought to a vote in the state Assembly. Schwarzenegger’s ballot measure also was rejected, leaving the bid for the suspension span in limbo.

“Every day we delay the East Span project translates to higher costs,” said MTC Spokesman Randy Rentschler. That point is bolstered by a just-released report commissioned by MTC. Prepared by Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation, the report found that seeking new construction bids for the suspension span, or shifting to a more conventional cable-stayed design, could delay the opening of the new East Span by as much as four years (to the year 2015) and could lead to inflationary cost increases of as much as $310 million.

Public Safety at Risk
Incalculable is the risk to public safety of prolonged travel on the seismically weak old East Span, which fractured in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (with an epicenter 60 miles away).

“We can’t afford to start from scratch,” Rentschler said, noting that the skyway has been under construction since January 2002 and that crews have nearly completed the foundations on Yerba Buena Island for the self-anchored suspension span. Moreover, he said, redesigning a portion of the bridge at this late stage could call into question the earthquake readiness of the entire structure — an ironic twist given that seismic safety has been the primary goal of the project from the outset.
— Brenda Kahn

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