After nine months of inquiry, The Oakland Tribune reported yesterday that the multi-billion-dollar seismic upgrade of the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and East Bay communities has been badly compromised by faulty welding, and a deliberate pattern of cover-ups. As you'll see in the story linked to above, the contractor and Caltrans pointedly rebut the charges. The FBI is investigating.

At $6.2 billion, this is the largest public works project in California's history. The estimated cost a decade ago was $2 billion, but that has grown, thanks to delays and a huge design controversy. There's a lesson here for Seattle, Puget Sound and Washington state officials pussyfooting around financing replacement of The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and The Alaskan Way Viaduct.

The Bay Bridge carries 282,000 vehicles daily. With memories of the deadly 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake still fresh, the Bay Bridge must be fortified. The welding controversy stems from work on the $1.5 billion skyway portion, supported by 160 steel legs.

Ex-welders on the project have a story that - if true - would be disturbing. Here are some key parts of the Tribune's story (again, read the whole thing, linked above) to get the other side.

The new Bay Bridge is riddled with defective welds, 15 welders told the Oakland Tribune in a nine-month investigation - allegations that could lead to criminal fraud charges....In the worst case, the federal probe could lead to tearing apart the bridge to see if it is structurally sound or needs to be rebuilt.....Several welders in interviews estimated one-third of the 5,280 welds in these legs, or piles, may be substandard. Almost all are now encased in concrete even as contractor KFM, according to several Capitol sources, is aggressively lobbying Sacramento to finish the bridge — a contract worth $5 billion more.

....Bay Bridge welders said they were pressured by some supervisors to conceal bad welds in a way that could fool the inspectors' tests. They said they covered cracks and bubbles — which are common in production welding — with enough metal to pass inspection. ''One time I know Caltrans saw something that needed repairs, " said veteran pile driver Aaron Cushman, who is no longer on the job. ''I just fixed the top of it and Caltrans signed off. "

''Even on critical weld repairs, we covered them over with new weld, "foreman Angel Leon told the Tribune, recalling one occasion when a KFM welding supervisor told him to disappear while he was waiting for an inspector. ''I was told: 'Angel, don't you have something to do? We don't want to get you involved if people ask questions later.' "

Leon.....said he's never seen so many defects on a project in his 20-year career. Laid off in January as the welding operation tapered off, Leon recalled the view of the 68-year-old bridge from his breezy work site under the enormous red construction cranes.

''When I'd look from the new bridge to old, " the 45-year-old Leon said, ''it gave me the feeling that the old bridge is safer than the one we're building."

In an editorial today, The SF Chron sums things up well:

The reason the state is spending billions on the Bay Bridge is to make it seismically safer. Caltrans officials insist that repairs were made on all defective welds found by inspectors, and for once, they had better prove to be right.

Repairs or cover-ups? That's the question.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 7, 2005 11:35 AM

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