Bridge set to open

Tests that Caltrans launched to predict the reliability of hundreds of at-risk steel fasteners on the new Bay Bridge eastern span after 32 rods failed this year are giving rise to cautious optimism that the parts will not need to be replaced, agency engineers say.

"I'm pleased with what I'm seeing so far," Brian Maroney, Caltrans' chief engineer for the span, said after seeing early results of tests intended to gauge the steel parts' ability to hold up in a marine environment.

"These tests are going really well," Maroney said. "While it's too early to draw conclusions, so far it's good news."

The tests, which started this month, were ordered by Caltrans after the 32 rods installed on seismic-stabilizing bridge structures in 2008 snapped when workers tightened them in March. It turned out that the rods' hardened, galvanized steel had been contaminated by crack-inducing hydrogen, either during manufacturing or from being left in holes that filled up with rainwater.

The mass cracking threatened to delay the span's Sept. 3 opening. Caltrans eventually found a quick fix that passed muster with federal highway officials, but that left unanswered the question of what to do about 2,200 similar steel bolts and rods on the $6.4 billion span. So far the plan is to open the Bridge on the 3rd.