$500,000 Panel Of Experts Assembled To Design Testing Plan For For Bay Bridge Bolts, Rods
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— An expert engineering panel has been assembled to support further bolt testing on the troubled Bay Bridge, even though the California Department of Transportation insists the bridge remains safe for motorists.
12 internationally-renowned experts have been assembled at a cost of $500,000 to help design a plan for further rod testing on the Bay Bridge.
"This panel will help design tests of anchor rod behavior in environments that will environmentally and seismically reflect potential earthquakes," said Bay Bridge spokeswoman Leah Robinson-Leach.
She wants drivers across the bridge to know the bridge is safe and that a very small number of rods tested have had issues.
"Less than one percent," she said. "But we still are committed to ensuring that the performance that should be happening does in fact happen."
The San Francisco Chronicle reports 120 sleeves encasing the high-strength rods are continually flooded with salty water.
"We are committed to transparency and this testing will show that," Robinson-Leach said.