Officials left all lanes of the Bay Bridge open for holiday travelers yesterday, and there were no reports of heavy traffic in either direction as the Labor Day weekend came to a close.
Starting today, one lane on the eastbound bridge will be closed around the clock for up to 10 weeks while crews work on the concrete barriers that serve as its walls. Concerns about the barriers' safety emerged after a fatal Aug. 10 accident in which a tractor-trailer broke through and plunged into the bay. While officials say the bridge's deck and underpinnings are structurally sound, they say they need to reinforce the barriers with steel plates and extra bolts and add metal guard rails.
Using ultrasound and ground-penetrating radar, officials discovered that moisture had seeped into the interior of some of the concrete barriers and corroded the steel bolts that attack to the bridge's deck. If not for the crash, officials said, they likely would not have discovered the problem. The newer three-lane westbound span is designed differently, and officials say it is not susceptible to the same problem.
