Search title image

TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

November/December 2006

Merit Awards:
Caltrans Wins Demolition “Super Bowl”

Caltrans
A careful balance is maintained between creation and destruction as the new approach takes shape just a few feet from homes and offices in downtown San Francisco. (Photo: John Huseby, Caltrans)

For Caltrans to replace a one-mile stretch of freeway is not a big deal. But when the freeway is located in the middle of densely populated San Francisco, connects to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, has three on/off ramps and carries 260,000-plus vehicles a day, the project takes on another dimension.

The Bay Bridge West Approach seismic retrofit is part of the overall Bay Bridge Seismic Safety Project and one of the most complex and daunting projects in Caltrans’ history. The entire one-mile stretch, bounded by Fifth Street and the bridge anchorage on Beale Street, is in the process of being completely torn down and replaced. The work must be done with minimal disruption of heavy traffic and within inches or feet of apartment buildings and offices.

The six-year project, scheduled from 2003 to 2009, consists of a series of elaborately planned demolition and construction projects. Called “retrofit by replacement,” the work entails building a temporary structure, rerouting vehicles to it, demolishing the old structure, and beginning work on the new one. When the new structure is built, vehicles are rerouted again, and the temporary structure ultimately demolished.

“It is a 10,000-piece puzzle,” said West Approach Project Manager Ken Terpstra, “and requires a unique combination of design, structural, construction and traffic engineers to put it all together.”

The greatest challenge of the entire project occurred on Labor Day weekend 2006, when Caltrans closed the eastbound Bay Bridge for 77 hours in order to demolish 1,000 feet of the upper deck bridge approach and remove 10,000 cubic yards of concrete.

“There was a huge amount of planning,” said Construction Manager Dennis Turchon. “We had to sell the concept (of the Labor Day weekend closure) to the governor, the Legislature, the CHP, the city and county of San Francisco, and many other decision-makers. We had to know if BART could run 24 hours, if ferry service could be expanded and whether the contractor could do the job in one weekend. This was the Super Bowl of demolitions.”

“It was a tremendous PR risk if we didn’t succeed,” added Caltrans Public Information Officer Bart Ney. “There was no plan to follow. So we developed one. First, we showed the media what we were going to do, which made their jaws drop. Second, we went door-to-door with flyers for the quarter-million people who live and work in the South of Market neighborhood. We also visited virtually every Bay Area city to let them know the artery wouldn’t be available over Labor Day weekend. We had to get the message out every way possible.”

At 4:23 a.m. the Tuesday after Labor Day, the first cars came through. “We were 37 minutes early, and we had won the Super Bowl,” Turchon said.
— Marjorie Blackwell

Contents