The California Dept. of Transportation—first reeling, then hunkering down following revelations that one of its technical engineers may have falsified data regarding the structural soundness of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's self-anchored suspension-span foundation—has agreed to allow a peer-review panel to conduct an independent investigation of all the records related to the inspections of the piles.
Following a long, comprehensive investigation, The Sacramento Bee released details on Nov. 13 about the inspection work of the technician, Duane Wiles. Caltrans released him, along with his foundation testing-group supervisor, Brian Liebich. (Liebich's dismissal, the agency insists, is related to a separate matter involving state materials found at his house.)