Toll payers will dig deep: Bay Bridge fix could top $15 million

Views of the new Bay Bridge tower in the background seen from Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. Caltrans will soon change contractors to maintain and fix the new span of the Bay Bridge. less Views of the new Bay Bridge tower in the background seen from Treasure Island in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. Caltrans will soon change contractors to maintain and fix the new span ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Toll payers will dig deep: Bay Bridge fix could top $15 million 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

A long-term fix for the waterlogged steel rods at the base of the new Bay Bridge eastern span’s tower will cost at least $15 million, much of which could come from toll payers, Caltrans officials said Wednesday.

The risk of corrosion to the high-strength, 25-foot-long rods has led to months of study and delays in putting the finishing touches on the eastern span, which opened to traffic in September 2013.

Caltrans issued its new cost estimate the day before a Bay Bridge oversight panel is scheduled to consider accepting the $6.4 billion span — warts and all — from the main contractor, a joint venture called American Bridge/Fluor.

The long-delayed action could make it difficult for bridge officials to bring the contractor back to the job if more problems arise. Caltrans officials say if that happens, they will sign up new firms for the fixes. Toll-payer money would be in play as a funding source.

In a memo to a three-member oversight panel, Caltrans recommends taking an unspecified deduction from American Bridge/Fluor’s payoff for the “unacceptable” state of the more than 400 anchor rods at the base of the tower.

Nearly all of the rods were exposed to water because their sleeves flooded after being badly sealed with grout, Caltrans said. Even after they were dried out, about 100 of the sleeves continued to flood.

Caltrans engineers acknowledge it’s likely that most of the tower’s rods are riddled with tiny cracks at either end, a possible sign of corrosion. One of the rods broke sometime after it was tensioned in 2013.

“Their work is done,” Steve Heminger, chairman of the oversight panel, said about American Bridge/Fluor. “We don't think there are any more issues they are connected with.”

Heminger said any lingering problems involving the company’s performance will be resolved in post-contract discussions. “Eventually, we may have to go into dispute over some of these,” he said.

Repairs coming

Caltrans officials said the rod system “will need future repairs” that could drag well into 2016.

Those repairs will cost anywhere from $15 million to $25 million, the bridge’s chief engineer, Brian Maroney, wrote in a memo to the oversight panel. Whatever doesn’t come from American Bridge/Fluor or other contractors could be drawn from funds that are replenished with toll-payer dollars.

Caltrans officials did not respond to questions about the project. Experts who have been critical of the bridge construction wondered whether the $15 million to $25 million repair figure was anything more than a guesstimate, saying the extent of the corrosion threat at the base of the tower is still not known.

“They don’t seem to be able to solve any of the problems, no matter how much money they throw at them,” said Lisa Fulton, a corrosion expert in Berkeley who has studied the bridge’s problems and advised the state Senate transportation committee about the project.

“I don’t think they understand what they are talking about,” said Yun Chung, a retired Bechtel engineer who has also been critical of the project. “They really need to understand the failure mechanism for the broken rod before they come up with remedial action.”

Seeping saltwater

Caltrans inspectors discovered last year that the rod sleeves’ grout sealant was letting in water, which can cause both rust and cracking from hydrogen infiltration.

Since then, Caltrans has concluded that saltwater from the bay is permeating the tower’s concrete foundation and seeping into the sleeves.

This wouldn’t be the first time toll payers had to pay for fixes to problem rods on the bridge. In 2013, it cost $25 million for Caltrans to come up with and execute a retrofit of seismic shock absorbers on the span after 32 of the high-strength metal rods cracked. Another $20 million was spent on a testing program for the 2,000-plus rods and bolts on the bridge.

Heminger said he expected the oversight panel to try to recover some of those costs from American Bridge/Fluor and the bridge-design firm T.Y. Lin International.

The tower’s anchor rods are intended to make the bridge more stable in an earthquake. Maroney and other Caltrans officials have said the span could ride out a major quake even without the rods, but local transportation officials have questioned that.

“I don't think it's a very satisfactory answer,” Heminger said in July. “It is surely not an answer a banker wants to hear after he's paid for them.”

Besides Heminger, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the oversight panel that will vote on whether to accept the new eastern span includes the heads of Caltrans and the state Transportation Commission.

$13 million repair

Caltrans’ proposed tower-foundation fix includes about $13 million to loosen the rods using special jacking equipment, remove the grout and clean the rods. The sleeves would then be filled with corrosion-resistant grease or high-strength grout and the rods tensioned again, but to a reduced level to guard against stress-induced corrosion.

Caltrans believes that rust is the major risk to the rods, not the sudden fracture caused when high-strength steel is exposed to hydrogen in the environment. Outside experts say the rod that cracked after being installed probably succumbed to hydrogen, but Caltrans has yet to make an official determination.

Caltrans also envisions a study of the long-term risk of corrosion from saltwater and then a monitoring and protection plan.

American Bridge/Fluor officials have failed to respond to inquiries about the project’s problems, but say they stand by their work. The joint venture was supposed to hand over the completed bridge in January, but a string of problems in addition to the rods — including a malfunctioning maintenance elevator on the tower and leaks in the deck that threaten more corrosion — led to wrangling and delays.

American Bridge/Fluor could have been fined $50,000 for every day that work continued past Jan. 1 through at least April. It is not clear whether Caltrans will seek penalties.

Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com