[Original Title: Our crumbling infrastructure- Bay Bridge falls apart, ordered closed]
The point about how our nations infrastructure- mostly roads and bridges- is falling apart won't be news to anyone here. It's been big-time talk ever since the freeway bridge collapse in Minnesota a couple years ago, and Rachel Maddow has been pushing for funds from the stimulus to be used for this. But today puts a new emphasis on it. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most heavily used bridges in the country, started raining down on commuters today leading to a nearly unprecedented immediate closure by Caltrans- and its going to be a while before its open again.
The Bay Bridge is a survivor. Its upper deck collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake (the 89 'world series quake', so called because it struck on national TV during the pre-game show to the World Series game that day in San Francisco). It's eastern span is being replaced currently, and when the bridge was shut for the labor day weekend to roll the new approach into place, a large (and i mean large) crack was discovered, meaning the bridge was closed an extra day (it was supposed to be longer, but they somehow got the saddles forged on an emergency pace). The crack they fixed?
The saddles were attached to take any and all weight off the crack, and all was good until the new eastern span gets put up in a few years.
Or so we thought.
Those saddles failed spectacularly today, snapping apart and falling from the cantilever (the weight bearing structure above the bridge). Three cars were hit, and the bridge was ordered shut immediately by Caltrans. The bridge can not open until repairs are effected, and something tells me that the same repair as last time just won't cut it this time. Caltrans was absolutely heroic in the last one, it was an amazing example contrary to republican points, about how efficient and on-point government work can truly be. Shut downs were expected to be at least a week and they got it done in a single day with the help of a equally friendly forge from one of the southwestern states, but there now appears to be something structurally wrong with the repair plans (or with the saddles, time will tell).
The bay area is an agglomeration of 8 million people in 9 counties. It's the third-largest television market in the united states. This is a staggering amount of people, all nicely trisected by water (San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the opening to the pacific known as the Golden Gate). And the keystone to getting around this area, trisected as it is, is the Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge isn't just a local story, for the first time a single point of infrastructure failure is going to have a measurable impact on productivity and GDP for the nation as a whole when all the lost hours, wages and production are tallied.
SF Chronicle's breaking news article tonight.
Update: Photos. All from The Chronicle, see a full photo strip at the link.