TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

Spring 2010

Iconic Self-Anchored Suspension Span
Begins to Rise From the Bay

First SAS Deck Sections for Bay Bridge East Span
Arrive From China and Glide Into Place

San Francisco Bay’s trademark fog seems to provide the illusion of a cushion as a massive steel deck section from China balances delicately on a temporary truss and begins to slide on ski-like appendages toward its final position. (Photo: © 2010 Barrie Rokeach) See more photos here.

While the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver were captivating the world, a momentous engineering event also involving skis was unfolding here on San Francisco Bay. Beginning in early February, the first deck pieces for the self-anchored suspension portion of the new Bay Bridge East Span were lifted into place on temporary trestles, and hydraulically pushed on ski-like appendages to their final positions. With each deck piece weighing between 500 and 1,500 metric tons, the lift-place-slide process is a carefully calibrated and choreographed sequence that can take 24 hours per section.

Featuring an iconic 525-foot tower, the self-anchored suspension span, or SAS, will be the crowning piece of the monumental East Span that has been under construction since 2002. The start of erection of the permanent SAS decks marks a pivotal moment in a trans-Pacific partnership that began three years ago. In 2006, the prime SAS contractor, American Bridge/Fluor, signed an agreement with the Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (ZPMC) in Shanghai to fabricate the East Span’s wing-like steel deck sections as well as the tower.

The productivity of this east-west partnership became visible to the Bay Area public in January 2010 when a ZPMC ship carrying the first eight deck segments arrived at Pier 7 in Oakland after three weeks at sea. Following some dockside prep work aboard barges, these massive deck pieces embarked on the final leg of their trans-Pacific journey — to the job site adjacent to Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay.

Meanwhile, back in China, fabrication challenges that had delayed the first shipment of deck pieces have been resolved and work continues apace around the clock, with a second shipment of deck pieces arriving in Oakland in April.

“We’ve got the process down, and it’s really going to start to flow from here on,” said Ken Terpstra, Caltrans’ project manager for the new East Span, which is being overseen by a consortium of three agencies making up the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee: Caltrans, MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority and the California Transportation Commission.

As the SAS erection accelerates, ships are arriving in the Bay Area from elsewhere as well: from South Korea, where special seismic bearings are being assembled; from Japan, where steel saddles that will cradle the span’s main cable were forged; and from England, where circu- lar bands that will clamp the 137 strands of main cable into a single 2.5-foot bundle are being fabricated.

While the self-anchored suspension span is a global enterprise, it also is a testament to American know-how, grit and determination. Some 75 percent of the steel for the new East Span is U.S.-made, and key elements for both the temporary supports and the permanent structure for the SAS hail from diverse points across the United States, including Pennsylvania, Missouri and Oregon. Assembling it all with precision here on the Bay is a crack team of some 100 U.S. craft workers, including ironworkers, surveyors, operating engineers and laborers.
— Brenda Kahn

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Contents

• Iconic Self-Anchored Suspension Span Begins to Rise From the Bay
• Nominations Open for 2010 Excellence in Motion Transportation Awards
• Project Update: Envisioning a Stunning Park at the Foot of the Landmark New Bay Bridge East Span
• Briefs:
  • Transactions Survey Points to Hybrid Approach
  • Commission Approves Toll Hike Package for Earthquake Safety
  • 16th Annual Bike to Work Day
  • 2009 Annual Report: “Transit in Transition”
  • Tracking East Span Construction in Real Time