California’s transport authority, Caltrans, has this week dismissed the technician who had inspected foundation piles for the signature single tower of the new bridge. The US state’s Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC) has therefore requested that the Seismic Safety Peer Review Panel conduct an independent review of all records from the quality assurance inspections of the piles.
“The new East Span is a seismic safety project that provides a critical link needed by Bay Area travellers to secure a strong economy for our region and the state,” said Bay Area Toll Authority executive director Steve Heminger, who chairs the TBPOC. “To ensure that mission is not compromised in any way, it is essential that outside, independent technical experts undertake a thorough review of all the inspection documents, assess the integrity of the completed work, and make their findings public.”
Members of the Seismic Safety Peer Review Panel are Dr Frieder Seible, who is dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California at San Diego; Dr IM Idriss , an independent consulting geotechnical engineer and emeritus professor of civil engineering at the University of California at Davis; Dr John Fisher, professor emeritus of civil engineering at Lehigh University and director emeritus of the ATLSS Engineering Research Center; and structural engineer Joseph Nicoletti, who served as chair of the Engineering and Design Advisory Panel for the Bay Bridge East Span replacement project. Nicoletti also chairs the peer review panel.
The TBPOC has consulted with the external Seismic Safety Peer Review Panel on numerous design and construction decisions over the years. The members of the TBPOC are Bay Area Toll Authority executive director Steve Heminger, Caltrans acting director Malcolm Dougherty and California Transportation Commission executive director Bimla Rhinehart.
The bridge's prime contractor, a joint venture of American Bridge and Fluor, placed the 28th and final deck section span at the end of October.
