The waste of a bridge....

Bay Bridge deficit expected, forcing officials to shift funds

By Jaxon Van Derbeken

The new Bay Bridge eastern span will likely end up at least $35 million in the red, and officials are shifting money from other completed Caltrans bridge projects to make up the difference, bridge managers say.

Caltrans and bridge officials boasted repeatedly in recent years that the mammoth eastern span project was going to come in on time and on budget. Until recently, they were optimistic that the bridge would actually cost less than the budgeted $6.4 billion and not consume all the $900 million set aside for cost overruns.

But there’s still as much as $110 million worth of unbudgeted work to be done on the span, according to Caltrans estimates to be presented to a bridge oversight panel Tuesday. And tearing down the old eastern span could end up costing $100 million more than originally estimated, Caltrans says.

Some of the predicted costs are covered by contingency funds, but not all of them. Caltrans’ analysis shows a likely deficit of $35 million.

The project is being paid for by Bay Area bridge toll payers, but officials say the overruns will not lead to a toll hike. That’s because they’re moving money from other bridge projects.
Discretionary projects cut

Recently, authorities with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s bridge toll authority moved $45 million of unspent money from the Antioch and Dumbarton bridge seismic retrofit projects to bolster the Bay Bridge’s budget reserve. Those projects are completed and came in under budget.

Still, if Caltrans analysts are right about the spending trends, the $45 million infusion would leave less than $10 million to cover unexpected costs. Recently, bridge officials have slashed funding for discretionary projects, including salvaging steel sections of the old span for use in art projects.

Some new costs, they say, will be needed to maintain the bridge for its expected life span of 150 years, including a $10million, two-year pilot project to create a computer database to model potential maintenance trouble spots.

The eastern span project has been dogged by overruns for everything from leaks in its deck to problems with its paint. An engineering fix for steel rods on seismic-support structures that failed last year cost $25million, and tests on the bridge’s remaining bolts and rods cost another $20 million.

On the old span, costs have soared because bridge officials have had difficulty getting state-protected cormorants and other birds that nest there to leave.

“There’s extra costs associated with permitting agencies, wildlife agencies and specifically the issue of the birds that won’t leave the old span,” said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for Metropolitan Transportation Commission. “The costs to keep them away from it are significant.”
'Many problems we’ve had’

Rentschler said the new span’s overruns stem from “the many problems we’ve had since the bridge opened.” The problems have meant that the bridge contractor, the joint venture American Bridge/Fluor, has remained on the job, adding more costs to the tab.

“This thing should have been closed out months ago,” Rentschler said. “Because we still have a big construction project going on, we still are putting out money.”

State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, who has faulted Caltrans’ management of the project and chairs the Senate’s transportation committee, said he is not surprised by the predicted deficit.

“It’s just another chapter in the most disastrous public works project in the history of the state of California,” DeSaulnier said.