$10 million solution

A broken anchor rod rises up next to still-tensioned rods on a shear key on the new Bay Bridge on Friday, May 3, 2013.

Caltrans deputy director Will Shuck holds a section of bolt removed from the new Bay Bridge in preparation for testing at Caltrans TransLab in Sacramento, California, May 9, 2013. Caltrans is testing the so-called "2010 rods", following the failure of 32 three-inch steel rods that broke during construction.
Rather than replace the now-inaccessible rods, Caltrans wants to construct a saddle that would be strapped onto the seismic structures using high-strength steel strands. The saddle fix would cost $10 million, the state says. On a larger scale, the Federal Highway Administration wants to know how the 32 rods and more than 2,300 others came to be installed on the span in the first place.
A number of outside experts have said Caltrans took an unacceptable risk by ordering excessively hard rods that were vulnerable to hydrogen invasion, either when they were galvanized or when they were exposed to the elements, that could cause them to become brittle and crack.