Bay Bridge contractor gets almost $49 million in bonuses

Members of the media gather underneath the Eastern span of the Bay Bridge in Oakland, CA Monday, February 10, 2014, in order to take a tour of the newly found leaks under the roadway. Members of the media gather underneath the Eastern span of the Bay Bridge in Oakland, CA Monday, February 10, 2014, in order to take a tour of the newly found leaks under the roadway. Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close Bay Bridge contractor gets almost $49 million in bonuses 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

Despite questions about who's to blame for those broken bolts and corrosive water leaks, the prime contractor on the new Bay Bridge eastern span has been rewarded with nearly $49 million in bonuses - including $20 million for finishing the job on time.

The state made that on-time payment to American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises even as officials haggled over who should pay $30 million needed to fix problems caused when 32 bolts snapped last year as workers tightened them down on a seismic-safety structure on the bridge.

"It's hard for the public to accept or understand," admitted Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Especially hard since Caltrans is spending another $10 million to test the rest of the bolts and metal rods on the bridge to see if any of them need replacing as well.

But the dispute over the bad bolts - and the new questions about who's to blame for rainwater leaking into the bridge's steel support structure - are separate from whether the contractor made the state's deadline to get the bridge opened by last Labor Day, Rentschler said.

The transportation commission is negotiating with American Bridge/Fluor, architect T.Y. Lin and Caltrans to split the costs for the bad bolts.

The commission's executive director, Steve Heminger, says officials still have leverage over American Bridge/Fluor because the joint venture is owed $57.7 million for work on the bridge that it's either finishing up or wasn't done to Caltrans' satisfaction.

Heminger defended dangling an on-time bonus in front of the contractor. In a letter to Bay Area legislators in June, he said the risk of an earthquake knocking out the old eastern span made it imperative to complete the new bridge "to achieve seismic safety at the earliest responsible date."

"We are not striving to open the bridge in order to pay contractor incentives," Heminger said.

American Bridge/Fluor's $20 million on-time bonus was one of many incentives paid to the contractors on the $6.4 billion bridge.

The joint venture and its Chinese supplier, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, split $16.4 million for speeding up the delivery of the steel road sections, even though the sections were held up for nearly a year because of cracked welds.

Caltrans also paid American Bridge/Fluor a $7.5 million bonus to accelerate the job of connecting the bridge's suspension section to Yerba Buena Island, plus nearly $5 million for other speed-up work.

That's a total of $48.9 million in bonuses to the main contractor. Then there are incentives that Caltrans paid to other contractors such as MCM Construction, which got $9.3 million for completing work on the Yerba Buena transition structure back in 2012.

Officials say paying the bonuses was money better spent than having to fight with the contractors over claims that Caltrans contributed to the delays.

Caltrans also noted that it withheld $13.5 million in American Bridge/Fluor bonuses - and even deducted a $500,000 payment after the state stopped one boatload of those defective decks from China that were ready to be shipped.

Pot politics: The big-buck backers of legalized marijuana are pulling away from plans for a November initiative in California - and will probably focus instead on changing laws in smaller states where the cost of campaigning is much less.

"The feeling seems to be to build momentum elsewhere, then come back in 2016," said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a backer of the legal pot idea.

Recent polling found California voters looked favorably on another ballot try, with more than half of those surveyed leaning toward legalization and only 39 percent opposed. An attempt to legalize pot in 2010 was leading in the polls until the final weekend - only to lose, 54 percent to 46 percent.

"It is very expensive to run a statewide campaign in California, and there are those who feel the same amount of money could be spread around to several states," Newsom said.

Another reason for the pot pullback: the recent death of billionaire Peter Lewis, the former Progressive Insurance CEO who contributed tens of millions to the movement.

Anchors aweigh: Former TV anchor Dana King apparently will have some company in her race to replace retiring Oakland City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan.

Michael Colbruno, an Oakland port commissioner and co-chairman of Mayor Jean Quan's re-election campaign, has filed to run for the District 2 seat as well.

"I had no intention of running, but I've been called by labor leaders, business leaders and Democratic Party officials, so I have to at least seriously consider it," Colbruno told us before taking out papers.

Isaac Kos-Read, whose job as the port's external affairs director was just eliminated, is also eyeing a run.

"It's very rare that a seat opens, and so many people approach you about running," said Kos-Read.