The opening date for the San Francisco-Oakland East Bay Bridge has been moved back to the original date of Tuesday, Sept. 3. The bridge opening had been postponed until December to allow time for contractor American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture to install permanent saddle braces to replace the clamping force lost when corroded steel bolts broke during tensioning in March.
Shortly after announcing the delay in July, the bridge's seismic review panel recommended an interim fix to shim the bearings on the east pier as a way of replacing the seismic performance lost from the shear keys that are located where the bolts failed, says Steve Heminger, chairman of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee. The Federal Highway Administration and independent bridge engineers vetted and approved the proposal.